


Arrogant Alphas and Stubborn Omegas

by ScarletPrussia



Series: Mishaps in the Omegaverse [1]
Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Minor Love Triangle, Multi, Omega Verse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-15
Updated: 2015-11-16
Packaged: 2018-01-12 12:41:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 50,961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1186321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScarletPrussia/pseuds/ScarletPrussia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Elizabeta is an unhappy omega. She hates her omega genes and the fact that she is forced to conform to what society deems acceptable. To make matters worse she meets an extremely annoying and arrogant alpha called Gilbert. Her life couldn't get any more interesting could it? Rated M for future content and darker themes. Omegaverse<br/>This is mainly a Pruhun fic. Other pairings include Spamano, GerIta and a love triangle between France, America and England.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Start of a strange friendship

**Author's Note:**

> _Hetalia is not mine!_
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> _So I love the Omegaverse and thought I'd give it a go myself._
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> _This is a PruHun fic with slight AusHun. There will be loads more pairings later on like GerIta and SpaMano. Most will only be in passing but they will be there... just not a lot of detail._
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> _This is M because of future content (like sexytimes) and darker themes I don't think have been touched that much in existing fics I read._
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> _So yea enjoy!_

"Hey you," a young Alpha boy called across the playground. Looking up from her place on the ground, the small brunette green eyed girl brushed back the tears that trickled down her cheeks and glared at the boy. "Are you okay?" he asked and started jogging towards her, a football tucked under his arm. The girl didn't answer only glared back at him. "Hey if the awesome me is talking to you, you have to answer," the boy gave her a cheeky grin. The girl scoffed at his reasoning. She pushed herself up to her feet and started walking off as the boy finally reached her location. She didn't need someone else telling her she couldn't play or she was weird. It wasn't her fault that she was stronger than everyone. It wasn't her fault she wasn't afraid of a fight. Seeing her leave the boy reached out and grabbed her arm, spinning her around. She almost gasped once they made eye contact and finally spoke to him.

"Your eyes are red!" she instantly slapped a hand to her mouth. She was taught better than to automatically say what came to her mind.

"Kesesese yeah cause they're awesome like me," the boy chuckled in response.

"Your hair's white," she exclaimed when she noticed the boys very pale hair. Once again the girl slapped her hand to her mouth. A blush started forming across her cheeks. Try as she could, she couldn't stop talking.

"Yeah it's all part of the awesomeness that is me and because I'm albino I'm even more awesome than everyone else!" the boy cheered then fidgeted slightly before pointing at the ball under his arm. "So I... uh... want to play? We need someone on my team and I saw you over here on your own and I heard you're good so..."

The girl stared at him, completely awestruck someone would want to let her play on their football team.

"If you don't want to that's okay," the boy conceded after a very long silence.

"No! I want to, it's just that a lot of people don't like playing sports with me cause I get too competitive," she explained quietly. As an Omega she wasn't supposed to like sports or even do any of the things she liked. Try as she could she couldn't conform to what was asked of her and she always scared away all the Alphas and Betas that tried to talk to her. She could barely even talk to the other Omegas because they fled everytime she tried to join their games. Apparently they didn't appreciate her make believe war when they were making nests out of leaves and toys. So even at the very young age of six she already hated the strict rules she was set under. She hated being meek and humble, she hated having to bow down to alphas who were apparently better than her. She hated being submissive.

"Awesome!" the boy exclaimed then remembered he knew nothing about this girl. "So what's your name? I'm Gilbert and those guys over there are my best friends." He pointed at two other boys who stood talking by some makeshift goalposts. One of the boys, a blue eyed Alpha with shoulder length blonde hair looked up and winked at her, the other a tanned brunette Alpha with green eyes smiled and waved at them. "The blonde one is Francis and the other one is Antonio. They are awesome but not nearly as awesome as me! I was going to play them on my own but they said I needed someone else to play on my team."

"I'm Elizabeta," the girl told him once she wrapped her mind around the sheer amount of words that Gilbert insisted on throwing her way.

"Elizabeta huh, can I call you Liz? It's a lot easier to say," Gilbert grinned at her again. Before he realised what was happening he felt hands push against his chest and the next thing he knew he was staring up at the sky. A very disgruntled Elizabeta standing over him, her hands on her hips as she glared angrily down at him.

"It's Elizabeta! Not Liz!" she snapped at him.

"Kesese ja, I'm gonna call you Liz anyway cause I'm awesome," he chuckled and pushed himself off the ground. Brushing himself off, he looked to his side where he saw Francis and Antonio laughing at him. Ignoring a slight blush that was building on his cheeks he turned back to Elizabeta and said, "Liz come on the guys are waiting to start the game. We don't have all day!" then raced back to the others.

Annoyed, Elizabeta scrunched her fists together. She had expected to be given out to and shouted at for being so unomega like but what Gilbert did only brought out her competitive side. Now she wanted to prove she was better than that cocky Alpha boy. Grinding her foot into the ground she set off after him and when she reached them she was quickly introduced and the game started. But with one major difference to the plan they already had. She played on Antonio's team against Gilbert after insisting that she had to beat the albino Alpha. The match started off friendly but soon divulged into a blood bath. Ten minutes in both Francis and Antonio had opted out. Antonio from a cut to his knee caused in a very fast, very violent tackle with Gilbert. Francis from a black eye after he ran into a pole when he got distracted a an Omega girl on the other side of the playground. Now it was nothing more than a wrestling match between Elizabeta and Gilbert. Everytime it seemed one got the upper hand the other would throw a punch or kick that threw the opponent off. It didn't take long until both were exhausted and lay sprawled out on the grass as they watched the clouds drift overhead.

"Are you an Alpha?" Gilbert asked after the few minutes they used to catch their breaths.

"Nope," Elizabeta answered shortly. She didn't like telling people she was an Omega, it always got her down and she wanted to ignore that part of her biology.

"Then you have to be a Beta, you're too awesome to be an Omega," Gilbert said as if he had just uncovered the greatest secret history had ever concealed.

"Wrong again..." Elizabeta said as quietly as she could.

Gilbert's head snapped to his side and he stared wide eyed at Elizabeta. "Seriously?"

Elizabeta nodded sadly and sat up to look around. Antonio and Francis had gotten bored and wandered off shortly after their wrestling match started.

"Wow then you are the most awesome Omega ever!" Gilbert proclaimed and sat up beside her.

Elizabeta blushed at the statement. She had never been called awesome for behaving the way she did, normally she was told off for it.

"Thanks," she mumbled and hid her face behind her knees. She couldn't let Gilbert see her blush.

"No problem, but you're still not as awesome as I am!" Gilbert teased and shoved her arm a little to get her full attention back.

"Hey I can be more awesome than you!" Elizabeta argued and shoved back.

"Ja Liz, like that could happen," Gilbert stuck out his tongue at the girl.

"Don't call me Liz!" with that she flung herself on top of the alpha and started pinching his cheeks with one hand and tickling him with the other. Gilbert gasped at the sudden confrontation and broke down into a fit of laughter as he wrestled her hands back and spun them around so he was now leaning over her.

"Hey guess what! The awesome me just decided that when we grow up you're gonna be my awesome Omega!" he declared with the biggest most arrogant grin he could muster.

Elizabeta's jaw dropped at his sudden declaration, there was no way she was letting this cocky Alpha claim her. Without a second of hesitation her fist met his jaw and he collapsed on top of her with a grunt. Before she could push him off a teacher came rushing over and dragged them both off, the teacher throwing an unconscious Gilbert over her shoulder.

The next hour was spent in the principal's office as both of them awaited their parents. Gilbert had woken up the instant they were back indoors and was now putting up the best fight he could in order to get out of whatever doom they were facing.

"Come on Grandpa!" he cried out at the man who was sat behind a large, very neatly organised desk. The man was in his late forties and grey hairs were coming through the long blonde hair he had tied back into a ponytail. He focused his steel blue eyes on the young alpha sat in front of him and pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance.

"Gilbert how many times have I told you not to call me that in school?" he asked in a low growl.

"I forget," Gilbert whined in response, "come on we were playing and I'm too awesome to get in trouble, so is she!"

Elizabeta looked between the two confused as to what was actually going on. She had no idea the principal had a grandson and to see a young Alpha oppose an older one was strange. Maybe Gilbert was really different around everyone not just her.

"Gilbert!" the principal slammed his fist on the table causing Gilbert to freeze in place and sit bolt upright. "Behave or you will no longer be in line for head Alpha!" Gilbert instantly quietened and behaved. Sighing in relief the principal sat back and started shifting through his papers until a knock on the door interrupted his concentration.

"Mr. Beilschmidt, their parents are here," the secretary said as she popped her head into the office.

"Ja send them in," Mr. Beilschmidt sighed and gathered up his notes before standing up to greet the children's parents. As they entered he shook their hands and motioned for them to take the four empty seats beside the children.

"What has she done now?" Elizabeta's father, a tall man with brown hair and deep brown eyes asked. Elizabeta glared up at the man but was quickly told off by her mother, a small brunette woman with the same green eyes Elizabeta had.

"Dear Omegas don't behave like that," she quietly scolded her daughter. Elizabeta reluctantly obeyed her Omega mother, she had to. If she didn't things would be a lot harder. "Good girl."

"Well Mr. and Mrs. Hédeváry it seems your daughter and Gilbert here got into a fight today. We don't know who started it but I wouldn't put it past Gilbert," Mr. Beilschmidt explained.

"We're very sorry if he did, we know he would never hurt an Omega," Gilbert's father a greying alpha with dark blue eyes added.

"But Vati! She knocked me out!" Gilbert protested but the man refused to acknowledge him.

"Yes, it's just he's a little spirited and well he gets carried away," Gilbert's father spoke up again and gave a quick slap to the back of his son's head causing the boy to yelp in pain. Gilbert's mother flinched at the yelp, as much as she knew the boy needed discipline she wasn't keen on hitting the poor child. The small blonde Omega wished they could just talk to him and make him see sense that way, but it never worked with Gilbert.

"No I think our daughter might be at some fault in this as well," Elizabeta's father countered, "she always had a problem with submitting and well this isn't the first time something like this has happened."

"But he said he wanted me to be his Omega!" Elizabeta yelled up at her dad and pointed a finger at Gilbert. "I don't want to be anyone's Omega!"

The adults all raised their eyebrows at the new information before the principal finally asked them to tell the whole story. As the ran through their story, each one trying to shout over the other at certain points or using the other to prove their own innocence the adults sat back and listened. Eventually after they finished they were sent outside to wait in the hall.

"This is all you fault!" Elizabeta snapped at Gilbert when the doors closed behind them.

"It's not my fault! I'm too awesome for that. It's all your fault, you should just be my Omega!" Gilbert argued and squared up against Elizabeta.

"No!"

"How can you say no to the awesome me?" Gilbert shot back at the simple answer.

"Cause I... cause I don't want to!"

"You're so stupid!"

"So are you!"

Their voices started raising until they were almost shouting at each when Gilbert shouted something he would regret for years to come.

"You're such a useless Omega I bet you'll never find a mate when you grow up! I bet you don't even have friends!"

At that Elizabeta froze, tears started forming in her eyes as she stared back at the albino.

"Ja and you can forget about being my awesome Omega cause I don't..." Gilbert stopped when he finally looked up at the girl. His eyes widened in fear at the sight in front of him. Tears streamed down her face as she desperately tried to stop them with the base of her palms.

"You... you're right! I am a useless Omega... the others don't like me and I just want to fight and play sports but no-one will let me... and when they do they get scared and run away!" she bawled and crumpled to the ground.

"Sorry I didn't mean to... I'll be your friend I was just... ah stop crying," Gilbert pleaded and knelt down beside her and desperately tried to pick her up.

"No! You meant all that and now I'm going to die alone and no-one will ever like me!" she wailed and wrapped her arms around herself.

"No you won't! I swear it you'll never be alone and I will be your friend. You're awesome and I really didn't mean any of that, just please stop crying," Gilbert begged and quickly looked around. People were starting to gather in the hallway and it was only a matter of time before a teacher showed up or worse still their parents left the principal's office.

"No you won't you'll get scared and run away, just like everyone else," Elizabeta sniffled, her crying now finally coming to an end.

"I'm too awesome to do that and you're too awesome to leave!" Gilbert said as kindly as he could and gave her a soft smile. Looking through her tear lined eyes Elizabeta didn't know if she wanted to smile or hit the Alpha boy, instead she reached out her hand for him to take.

"If you make me cry again I'll kill you," she muttered and wiped away the last tears clinging to her eyelashes and cheeks.

"Deal," Gilbert exclaimed and helped get rid of any errant tears she missed. "So want to be my awesome friend?"

"Sure," Elizabeta smiled back. As soon as they had that said their parents came out of the office and stared down at the pair completely bewildered at what they were seeing. "He promised to be my friend and we won't fight anymore," Elizabeta filled them in before they could say anything.

"Ja and I won't let anyone be mean to her either!" Gilbert added with a flourish only he could add.

Their parents shared a look then nodding and taking their respective children home.

Thus was the start of the strange rollercoaster-like relationship of Gilbert and Elizabeta.


	2. The new classes

Years passed and the pair grew closer and closer. Along with their friendship, their reputation also grew. Soon they were the talking point of the town. It was hard to go a day without hearing about some trouble caused by the pair and their accomplices Francis and Antonio. By the time they reached twelve they had a reputation that stirred fear and suspicion in the hearts of everyone they knew. Once someone became aware of their reputation they were treated gingerly, as if they were going to cause mayhem even if they never set out to do anything. They were the self proclaimed rulers of their school that was until that one class, the one that soon showed them what exactly they were in store for.

The day started off as any other, they had a new plan arranged for an ice festival their town was holding at the end of the week that they ran through during their first class once the teacher turned his back. They ignored the annoyed glances that were shot their way once any of them broke out into giggles at certain aspects of their plans. They were more than used to the disapproving looks they received but never paid attention unless someone was brave enough to confront them. When they happened it was normally up to Francis and Antonio to hold back Gilbert and Elizabeta. The former pair also being the ones forced to apologise if Gilbert or Elizabeta started a fight.

"This is gonna be awesome!" Gilbert chuckled under his breath as he pointed at a diagram on a sheet of paper. It showed a picture of Elizabeta climbing on a large statue of a wolf and Gilbert hiding below. In Elizabeta's hand was a drill and in Gilbert's were candles and a square that represented a lighter. Lines and arrows along with some writing marred the rest of the paper and showed the basic outline of the plan.

"Yeah, I can't believe we're actually going to do this!" Elizabeta chimed in, her eyes wide in excitement.

"So Francis you distract all the people watching and Antonio you're okay with leading the ice carvers away from the statue?" Gilbert asked the giggling Alpha who sat to his right.

"Si, it should be no problem. One of the carvers hates me so he should chase after me and the rest should follow," Antonio agreed with a smirk.

"Someone hates the lovable Antonio? Impossible!" Francis exclaimed at hearing Antonio.

"I know! He doesn't think I should talk to his son..." Antonio chuckled quietly and rubbed the back of his neck.

"His son?" Elizabeta asked and leaned back from her seat in front of him.

"Si, his son Lovi. He thinks I'm a bad influence," Antonio explained. "I just like talking to Lovi because he likes tomatoes too!"

"Adults are crazy," Gilbert supplied before he was cut off by a sharp shush from their teacher.

They glared up at the greying man who wore a dark blue sweater vest over a white shirt and grey trousers.

"Now that I have your attention..." the man started and shot the gang a disapproving look. "Today we are going to separate you all into different groups. From today each of you will be taking special classes that will help you further on into your lives." He looked around the class who each looked at their friends, a mixture of confusion, concern and excitement evident on their young faces. "Now if you will I would like all Omegas to come to the front of the class." With that the Omegas stood up and made their way to the front. Elizabeta remained firmly in her seat, refusing to acknowledge her type. "Elizabeta," the teacher warned and stepped towards her. Reluctantly she stood up and trudged to the rest of the Omegas, grumbling angrily as she went. She didn't need her parents being called into the school again. Since the first incident with Gilbert, it had become an almost weekly occurrence to be scolded by her parents in the principal's office. "Good," the teacher commented and then flit his eyes over what remained of the students. "Now Alphas please move to the back of the class, Betas can remain seated." With a lot more noise and protests than the Omegas who obeyed without a second thought, the Alphas eventually all found their way to the back of the class. "Okay, now if you will, Alphas please follow me," with that the teacher led the Alphas out the door and down the hall. Within seconds a small dark haired female Omega teacher walked in and smiled politely at the Omegas, she twisted her fingers together nervously as she stood at the door. She wore a long yellow skirt along with a white blouse with a blue ribbon tied at her neck. She looked over the class with her huge doe eyes.

"Okay I suppose the Omegas should follow me," she said quietly but with enough volume to get the students attention.

Obediently most of the Omegas made their way towards the door, Elizabeta once again remained in her position. She glared darkly at the teacher. She didn't like being addressed as an Omega and now she really didn't like the fact they were being separated. Begrudgingly though, she followed the teacher out the door though not forgetting to send the woman an angry glare as she passed. They made their way down the corridors until they came to a part of the school that Elizabeta had never been to, which was surprising to her as she had spent most of her school life trying to find the best hiding places when she got into trouble when she was with the gang. However she soon learnt why she never came to this part when she saw the posters hanging from the walls. Each one was a sickening mixture of pinks and greens. All designed with one express purpose, to show Omegas what their purpose of life was. To produce young and care for them, nothing more and to Elizabeta's utter frustration, nothing else. Each poster romanticised the idea of carrying a baby and the idea of raising as many children as physically possible. This place was already making Elizabeta feel sick and she was not looking forward to what lay ahead of her. After what seemed like forever to Elizabeta they finally made it to a room with plush armchairs and beanbags bigger than any Elizabeta had ever seen before forming a circle in the centre. The walls were painted a pale yellow with pictures of happy families and Omegas happily cleaning and caring for children lining them. Flowers grew in colourful pots that sat on the windowsills. Grinning she rushed towards a massive red one and threw herself face first into it, sighing happily at the impact.

"Okay everyone I want you all to take a seat so we can start," the teacher stated and took a seat in a large well worn blue armchair.

The rest of the Omegas all chose their respective seats, most doubling up to cuddle closer together as their natural timidity took effect. Most Omegas avoided being isolated and were terrified to be outside of another's company so they tended to form groups of tightly knit friends. Once everyone had taken their seats Elizabeta growled quietly to notice she was once again the only one who was left alone, not that she minded... much. There were times when even she felt her instincts kick in and now was one of those moments. Ignoring it she forced her attention back to the teacher who had now gathered a bundle of cards and books on her lap.

"Right class, I'm guessing you already know why we're here," the teacher started and shuffled through her cards. She seemed intent on keeping her attention on her work and avoiding the gazes of the students now watching her.

The Omegas nodded and politely waited on her to continue, even Elizabeta held her tongue. She could lash out later, now she had to stay quiet or she might get in a lot of trouble.

"Very well then, today we're going to talk about what an Omega does in society. I know most of you already know but I want to make sure everyone knows exactly what is expected of them," she smiled sweetly as she spoke and made a point to avoid Elizabeta's gaze. She had been warned before and seeing the glare the young Omega gave her earlier she was a little wary of what the girl could do. "Well, it's very simple we as Omegas have a very important role. A role that's more important than even an Alpha's role. We are the bearers of the future." She smiled and waited for her class to digest the information. They were the exact words that her teacher used when she was in school and they filled her with pride knowing some day she would carry on what she considered such an honourable legacy.

The Omegas looked between each other and smiles started lighting up on their faces. Each seemed more than content with the explanation, except for Elizabeta who looked at them with a mixture of sheer disgust and confusion. That was not what she wanted to hear. She didn't know what to expect if she was honest but that sugar coated bull crap was not it.

Content her class was happy with the start of her lesson the teacher continued. "Oh and before we go any further I forgot to introduce myself, I'm Miss Penney. I am going to be your tutor on how to be the perfect Omega for your future mates. I'm also going to be talking to you about some of the changes you will be going through over the next three years." An echo of "hi Miss Penney"s rang through the class until it went quiet again. "So does anyone have any questions for me?"

Elizabeta instantly raised her hand and leaned forward in the beanbag when she was given the go ahead to talk.

"What do you mean by bearers of the future?" she asked as abrasively as she could. Her green eyes hard as steal and hardened further with every word.

"It's simple!" Miss Penney chimed happy someone had asked the question she wanted to be asked. Elizabeta raised an eyebrow at her reaction and fell quiet so she could explain it further. "Well class I suppose we should get into the main part of what you will be doing with your lives when you find a mate," she smiled around the class and clapped her hands together excitedly. This woman was already getting on Elizabeta's nerves. "Now to put it in the best way I possibly can. When you find a mate and know that they are the right Alpha for you, you will bond and then have children. Imagine a group of mini yous running around and giving you undying love and affection. Of course it will be up to your Alpha to protect you and care about the finances. This means that it will be your job to care for the house and children. So if you can believe it, you get to spend your days with the joys that will light up your life, cooking and cleaning to make sure your Alpha and children are as happy as can be!" she almost squealed the entire thing and it made Elizabeta cringe, that was her idea of hell. "Now of course, this means you can't work. It's illegal for a bonded Omega to work in this country anyway but it's good. It means you don't waste precious energy on something silly." She grinned ecstatically and looked around to see most of the class following her lead; that was apart from Elizabeta who had turned a pale shade of green. "Miss..." she paused and gazed at Elizabeta waiting for her to tell her her name.

"Elizabeta Hédeváry," Elizabeta huffed when she noticed the teacher's attention was now focused on her.

"Did you not like anything I said?" the teacher asked hesitantly.

"Yeah! How can you be happy with that? It sounds horrible," Elizabeta snapped.

A series of gasps echoed through the room at her outburst and she glared evilly at them.

"Now Elizabeta... it's not bad at all. In fact it's good. It shows how much you love your family and how dedicated you are to them. Without an Omega to stay at home our society would fall apart," Miss Penney tried to soothe. Luckily for her it seemed to calm the temperamental Omega a bit. "So do you understand?"

"No, but if you say it's that way then I can't argue but only cause I'm tired of getting into trouble." Elizabeta muttered angrily and crossed her arms in defiance.

"Ok... well now that we have that part over and done with I should outline what we are going to be studying." Miss Penney continued still a bit cautious of Elizabeta. "From now on you all will have Omega centralised classes. They are Home Economics in which you'll learn to cook and care for the home. You will be required to take a sewing and knitting class then an arts and crafts class that will help you entertain young children. Oh and finally a family caring class. That will be with me. I will be showing you how to raise a child and everything that entails. As I said before I will also be teaching you about changes you are going to be going through. Not to worry, this is a safe environment to talk in so when it happens to any one of you, you can feel free to talk about it. There is one topic that I'm not comfortable about covering but we have to cover it today unfortunately." She glanced down at her blue loafers and tapped her toes together as a small blush formed over her cheeks. "Today we will be covering heats and what happens when you go through them and what happens when you find a mate."

"We're learning about that today?" a pale light blonde male Omega called Lukas asked. He seemed disinterested in the class until that point.

"Why yes we will. I know a lot of you will be going through these changes soon so we need to cover that topic. Although I must tell everyone it is illegal to take a mate before the age of fifteen. Your body is still in development until then and it's not possible to find a suitable Alpha who will support you," she told the boy who nodded in understanding along with the rest of the class. At this point Elizabeta had gotten bored and started drifting off. She moved herself to lay face down on the beanbag and rested her head on her arms.

"So is everyone ready to get started?" Miss Penney continued and ruffled through the cards before starting to hand out the books that she still had on her lap. Annoyed at being disturbed Elizabeta took one and started absentmindedly flicking through it, somehow avoiding pages that would freak her out. "Ok so could everyone please go to page twenty," Miss Penney told them and found the respective page on her own book. Going to the page Elizabeta's eyes widened at the contents. It was a diagram showing the reproductive organs of both male and female Omegas. "Ok this as you can see is an outline of an Omega's reproductive organs. You can see the female's one is much simpler than the male's so I will start with the male's organs." Elizabeta was starting to sweat now and wanted to vomit seeing the pictures. The room seemed too hot and she wanted to bolt out of there, but she couldn't, she was trapped. "Ok so the opening is in between the..." the teacher's voice faded into the background as Elizabeta's mind raced. This was starting to become too much for the girl. Her entire life she had denied her type and now she couldn't; now she was faced with a picture and set rules of what she was. She could never have an ambitious career like she wanted, she could never be independent. Instead she had to be a housewife; she had to have children and essentially serve her mate and keep a house clean. She could never explore the world like she wanted. Talking back to an Alpha was always forbidden but until now she ignored that rule, she intended to ignore it forever if she could. But once she found a mate, that would all have to change. She knew very few Alpha's who would want a rebellious outspoken and violent Omega. The only one she did now was Gilbert and she didn't want him as a mate.

She didn't know how long she kept running over questions in her head and internally panicking over her future until her teacher's voice started to come back into focus. ..."ok class now this is where pheromones come into play. When you are in heat and have chosen an Alpha you will by instinct submit. Your Alpha will claim you and once you're knotted to the Alpha you chose, you will be bonded. Don't worry, from what I heard it doesn't hurt and everything will happen naturally. Your body will react on its own and so will your Alpha's, there are very few who can resist giving in to nature. When they knot the Alpha will bite you on the neck, but it's ok and it will be to mark you as theirs. Once all of this is done there is a very high chance of pregnancy, of course that's the aim of bonded heats. From your first bonded heat on you and your Alpha are bound together and your scent changes to tell everyone this. I think that covers all of that side... any questions?" she smiled a bit embarrassed at the content of the lesson she had to teach but remained focused on the task at hand.

"How long will it take to know if you get pregnant?" a tall dark skinned Omega asked, a blush lighting her face a deep red.

"Normally about two weeks, it's easy to tell when you are. Your scent..." Miss Penney answered politely but was cut off by sudden movement from Elizabeta.

"No that can't be right! So you mate once and that's it! And you have no choice once you go into heat you just go into this frenzy thingy?" Elizabeta spat out and stared wide eyed at the teacher. "No, that is not what I want, I want to be free I want my independence and I don't want to be an Omega!" With that she fled the room and raced down the corridors until she found herself back in familiar territory. Making her mind on her destination she ran head first into a certain fleeing Alpha.

_Meanwhile with the Alphas_

Their teacher led them to another room inside of which sat a very asleep Alpha snoring very loudly. Poking his head around the door the teacher hissed something at the tall brunette Alpha who snapped back to the waking world with a snort. He lazily looked to his left at the other teacher and yawned before pulling himself off the desk he was leaning on. He had honey gold eyes and messy dark brown hair that had two errant curls he tried in vain to force down. Straightening out his red shirt he made his way to the door and grinned at the young Alphas waiting outside. Gilbert instantly recognised the Alpha. This was one teacher he had to behave around.

"Come on in!" he said cheerfully and swung the door open to admit the students.

Shaking his head their teacher turned and left the Alphas then returned to his classroom. Gilbert looked around the new room. He had passed it plenty of times before but it never stood out. There were pictures of athletes and successful businessmen lining the blue walls. The windows were covered with open white blinds that light poured through. A small amount of desks sat at the back of the room and some sports equipment lay in bags in a corner. Charts depicting mathematical equations littered the front board and unsolved equations were written on the white boards that the new teacher rushed over to and promptly rubbed out then gathered the charts and placed them in a drawer in his own desk. As casually as he had welcomed them in he turned and grinned at them.

"Ok new class, I'm Vice Principal Vargas. Normally I don't take this class but I got assigned to it because of certain Alphas that Mr. Beilschmidt wants to me watch," he shot a look at Gilbert and kept his smile pasted to his face. "So I suppose you are wondering why you are here?"

Francis' hand shot into the air and a sly grin spread over his face, "We are here to learn about being Alphas and everything that means... like finding a mate and bonding." He let the words slide off his tongue revelling in the fact they were finally learning about this.

"Excellent Francis. Should have expected you to be ahead in all this. Anyway as Francis said we are here to prepare you all for your lives as Alphas. There's a lot to be expected of you all. You need to be good at sports, leading and of course making money because without that how can you afford to keep an Omega? But no more wasting time and lets get started everyone take a seat!"

With that the class scattered to find seats Gilbert, Francis and Antonio opting to drag three tables together near the front. Once everyone had settled Mr. Vargas pulled out a pile of dusty books from a press that stood near the sports equipment and started handing them out. On getting his, Gilbert quickly flipped through it to find it full of doodles and without a second of hesitation started adding his own. His signature being a cartoon of himself standing on top of the world with his pet bird flying over his head. He drew a lot more really inappropriate doodles as well but the one of himself made him the most proud.

"Oh yes! Before I forget I need to go over the classes you all will be taking as Alphas. Well first and foremost is learning to take care of finances. So that means intense business and accounting studies. The second class is biology. As most of you should excel in any given area (including medicine) and take an Omega you all need to know biology. During this you're going to also learn how to take care of your Omegas and what to expect during heats and childbirth. Not to worry the Omega is the primary child caregiver so there is no need to concern yourself with that," he chuckled at the thought of dealing with a crying baby in the middle of the night and was more than glad his mate was so dutiful. "Right and the next class will be maths because we all know how important that is. After which is my favourite class sports and survival. They are bundled together because they both require physical strength and teamwork at times." He finished his speech with a flare and looked around the excited class. "So to start with and to keep up with the Omegas curriculum we are learning biology and the best part first. Heats and what to expect!"

Francis chuckled to himself, he was more excited than most to learn about heats. He knew what naked bodies looked like but nothing about Omegas. The only thing he knew was what he could coax out of his older cousins and what he learnt online. But his parents rarely allowed him near a computer so that wasn't a lot of information a young Alpha could use or even think about. Not that he knew what to expect being the son of Betas. He had honestly no idea how Omegas were so different, he only knew they had to be kept away for a week and sometimes a baby was born nine months later. He hated being so shielded and knew that nearly every other Alpha in the room had a better idea than him, and he was the self proclaimed expert in all things of the heart! Yet here he was, completely blind to something that would be a big part of his life. He couldn't wait to find a mate to spoil.

"Ok everyone open your books to page..." he flipped through his own book and coughed at the bit of dust that blew up into his face as he did so. "Fifteen, page fifteen students!"

Absentmindedly Gilbert and Antonio flipped through the pages unlike Francis who raced through the book and gasped in awe once he found it. Antonio divulged into a fit of giggles whereas Gilbert blanched. He grimaced and the images on the pages in front of him, skipping on he noticed the rest of the pages were filled with similar images depicting diagrams of all the reproductive organs. Pushing the book away he glanced around and saw nearly all of the others were happily looking at the images and joking among themselves, Antonio and Francis among them. Why though, Gilbert had no clue the images made him squeamish.

"Right well now onto the fun part," Mr. Vargas started and sent the class a feral grin. "So when an Omega goes into heat," he held up his book and pointed to a specific image, "they produce a lot of pheromones and slick that... how to put this in a safe way for you guys... make Alphas go crazy. It's not something that can be helped when we're around an unbonded Omega or our own mated Omega we have to claim them. It's ok though because an Omega will naturally give in because it's what their body wants. Ok now onto the really fun part! To do that an Alpha has to knot inside an Omega and that can only happen during an Omega's heat."

"How do Alphas knot?" Gilbert asked abruptly unable to keep the question from leaving his lips. A wave of giggles erupted through the class and Gilbert glared back at them. His friends beside him burst into laughter, howling together in glee at their friend's ignorance.

"Do you not know?" Antonio asked once he finally calmed down.

"Know what?" Gilbert snapped and felt his face light up a bright red.

"Amigo you have to..." he leaned forward and whispered the rest into Gilbert's ear. Gilbert went through a range of facial expressions from curious, confusion, horror and eventually utter disgust.

"No! That's just... really? How can? That doesn't make any sense. Babies just appear, right?" Gilbert shouted back at his friend who had once again started chuckling at his friend. Antonio shrugged at the outburst.

"Gilbert, calm down. This is perfectly normal," Mr Vargas tried to explain but it was no use. The young Alpha was freaking out and before he could stop him, Gilbert fled from the room. Slamming the door after him.

Rushing through the corridors Gilbert had no idea where he was going. All he wanted to do was get away from that class. The next thing he was aware of was a collision and a loud yelp from a very familiar Omega.


	3. The aftermath of the classes

"Can't you watch where you're going?" Gilbert snapped and pushed himself off the ground.

"Hey I could ask you the same question!" Elizabeta retorted and shot Gilbert an angry look. Their eyes snapped wide open as they looked at each other.

"LIZ!"

"GILBERT!" they yelled in unison and pulled themselves to their feet.

"So your class not go well either?" Elizabeta asked as she brushed herself down.

"I was too awesome for it," Gilbert chuckled consciously, he couldn't let her know that the whole thing freaked him out. It made him uncomfortable and if he was honest he didn't like the thought of someone being so submissive around him, he hated submissive people like that. He just wanted a challenge, even if it was all in good fun.

"Yeah... mines too, hey can we get out of here? Like go to the jungle gym, a teacher might find us here," Elizabeta bargained and shot a quick look around the corridors. It was very open and one of the most used corridors within the entire school. It connected the different parts that made up their massive school.

To say they went to a prestigious school was an understatement. They happened to attend the best school money could afford within Europe. What made it unique was that once a child is enrolled when they are four years old, they are normally expected to stay in that school until they graduate at sixteen, seventeen or eighteen depending on their type. Omegas were expected but not compelled to leave school at sixteen, whereas Betas and Alphas stayed in school until they were at least seventeen. The ones who planned to study for college stayed in school until they were eighteen. It was very rare for an Omega to ever stay in school after they reached seventeen as most were mated and starting families.

The school was split into three parts. The first part was of students aged from four to eleven. Luckily for Gilbert and Elizabeta during those years the students are not separated by type, instead by age. Once they neared twelve however they are and are also moved into the second part of the school. Even though the blood types have a few core classes together, most of the classes are separate to help them prepare for their own individual future. When a student reaches sixteen they are moved into another part of the school. The advanced section. This focuses directly on immediate skills and knowledge a student needs for either raising a family or further study. The Omegas at this point are taught the very basics of book keeping in order to run a house and given exams to ensure they are able to raise a family properly. The few Omegas that want to work until they are bonded are given the chance of taking a special teaching course and were allowed to teach from after they turn sixteen until they hit eighteen, or in most cases mated.

Outside they climbed to the top of the jungle gym and lazily gazed around. As far as they knew none of the teachers had seen them but they were always alert in case they were dragged back to class.

"So what made you leave your class? Was it too unawesome?" Gilbert asked after a long silence.

Elizabeta shook her head solemnly. "No, I just didn't like what they were telling me."

Gilbert dipped his head, apparently understanding his friend.

"What you're not going to tell me "I'm not awesome enough to sit through a class" or something?" Elizabeta shot at him, a feral grin setting on her lips. She was not used to Gilbert not arguing and just listening.

"Nope, I'm way too awesome to do that to a little Omega." His remark was met by a quick thump to his chest and he doubled over in pain, almost falling through the bars of the jungle gym until he grabbed a bar to save himself.

"Hey Liz..." Gilbert started hesitantly, he hated himself for his sudden lack of confidence his last class brought out.

"Yeah," she answered without too much thought, she was far too angry and shaken up to notice Gilbert's sudden change in behaviour.

"Do you think it's unawesome how we're supposed to act a certain way?"

"Yep..." her voice trailed off, she never kept it a secret that she didn't like being an Omega and her class just made her hate her type even more.

"Is that why you left your class?"

Elizabeta stopped to stare at him, for the first time since they started meandering through the school to go outside did she notice how shaken up he was. She shuffled closer and stuck her head right in front of his, glaring into his eyes and trying to figure out what her friend was so upset about.

"Yeah I left it cause the stupid teacher told me I have to be a housewife and I can't do anything else," she paused and considered how to ask Gilbert what happened. Deciding to take the bull by the horns she continued, "what were you told in your class?"

Gilbert shuffled slightly at the question and glanced at the ground, he hated himself even more now for being even more unawesome and not looking her in the eye.

"He said about bonding and... what you have to do and stuff," he muttered after a brief pause.

"Uh huh, we were taught that too," Elizabeta commented then turned and started walking again. "It's weird isn't it?"

"Ja it is, I don't understand why all Omegas have to be unawesome and be so submissive to Alphas... I prefer it when people stand up for things," he swung his legs back and forth and scrunched up his face in concentration. "Right that's it, how about we both team up to beat this crappy social system!" he exclaimed and grinned from ear to ear. He was sure this was a good way to cheer both of them up. As it stood they were always happiest plotting things together.

"Yeah! Lets do that, and who's to say we have to do what everyone wants? We can find another place where people are nicer and aren't so stuck on rules!" she smiled at her albino friend.

"Ja, it'll be awesome..." Gilbert was cut off by a loud angry "ahem".

Freezing in place they both turned pale and looked down at the ground where their eyes fell on the principal. Mr. Beilschmidt.

"What are you two doing out of class?" he demanded and glared angrily up at them.

"I uh..." Elizabeta stammered but Gilbert cut in.

"The classes were stupid and we don't like them!" he almost shouted at his grandfather. He knew he needed a good explanation otherwise he was going to be in a lot of trouble.

"Really? Care to explain?"

"Ja. Well first off Elizabeta's teacher told her she could only be a housewife. Elizabeta doesn't want to do that, she wants a job and to be awesome like me! And Mr. Vargas said that Omegas are always weak and that we have to do stuff... and... it just made no sense and then everyone laughed at me!" Gilbert's face was red after his outburst and he stared down at the man.

"Interesting..." Mr. Beilschmidt let his gaze fall as he thought back on the strict instructions he gave their teachers. This had happened before and given his grandsons tendency to over react and surprising innocence, he almost expected something to happen which is why he sent Mr. Vargas, the Vice Principal and someone he trusted, to teach the class properly. But he guessed wrong and had hoped the man that was known for letting his love of Omegas would understand when to censor himself. "Right both of you follow me." He turned on his heel and made his way back to the school, Elizabeta and Gilbert following close behind.

When they got to Gilbert's class they stopped before they reached the door. A loud chorus of laughter erupted from the room and Mr. Beilschmidt growled and pinched his nose. He carefully listened to a very descriptive recollection of a past "experience" Mr. Vargas had had before he stiffened up again.

"Gilbert go into your class while I talk to you teacher," he commanded and with a quick nod Gilbert slid into the room. The laughter silenced for a moment before started again, this time even louder. That was until Mr. Beilschmidt knocked on the door and got their attention. "Mr. Vargas a word." His steely eyes bore into the cheerful honey ones. Gulping, the man stood up and left the room, giving the class instructions to read over what they had discussed.

Once outside the room he glanced down at Elizabeta and gave a quick smile and greeted her. Elizabeta nodded back, never letting her head drop even if she somehow felt she should have.

"Is this a new Alpha for my class?" he asked happily oblivious to the fact he was in trouble.

"No, she should be in the Omega class which we are going to now," Mr. Beilschmidt told him and started leading the way.

They followed in silence aside from a few comments Mr. Vargas made about the school or the curriculum. Outside Elizabeta's class they once again waited to hear what was being taught. Standing as close as he could to the door without leaning against it Mr. Beilschmidt was able to make out a faint conversation going on in the class.

"Miss what would happen if an Omega couldn't find a mate? Would they have to work all the time?" a student asked.

"Of course not! All Omegas will find a mate. It's not something that doesn't happen you just need to submit to an Alpha and things just work out," Miss Penney told the student quite happy that she had answered the question. "Of course if an Omega is stubborn and doesn't submit to an Alpha I suppose they would just remain with their parents until they learn to give in."

Sighing Mr. Beilschmidt told Elizabeta to go into her class and once she was inside called out her teacher. The Omega skittishly left the class and smiled shyly at the Alphas before she along with Mr. Vargas were led down the hall to the principal's office. Motioning for them to sit, he shut the door behind him and took his seat behind his desk.

"I will not keep you from your classes too long," he started and linked his fingers together on the desk in front of him.

"Si... so what is it you wanted to talk to us about?" Mr. Vargas asked and smirked slightly seeing his friend so uptight.

"Ja, I want to know what you are teaching your students," he asked, his face lacking any other emotion aside from annoyance and slight anger.

"I'm just teaching them what they need to know, you know... bonding, telling them what they are going to be doing while they are in school. You know what you told me to teach them." Mr. Vargas smiled and relaxed back into the chair, stretching his arms behind him in an exaggerated stretch.

Mr. Beilschmidt nodded curtly and turned his attention to Miss. Penney who had somehow shrunk back into her chair and her gaze was pointedly stuck on the ground in front of her. Her hands tucked neatly in front of her.

"I taught my class about how amazing it is to be an Omega... I mean of course I told them that they are going to be caring for children and that is the most important thing in the world. But one of the students didn't like it when I said that an Omega shouldn't work when they bonded... it was strange but I'm sure she will see how much of an honour it is when she gets older, although she does smell of an Alpha so I'm guessing she's confused about her nature," Miss. Penney mumbled as quickly as she could but her voice lightened in joy when she spoke of what exactly she taught the students.

Once again Mr. Beilschmidt nodded then leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes to think about what to do. It was obvious Miss. Penney had upset Elizabeta and considering it wasn't the first time an Omega had fled from their class he should have warned the Omega teacher that not all her students would share her views.

"Aurora," he started and forced his voice to remain as calm as possible in case he scared the woman. "I think you should reconsider how to teach this group. Not all of the class share your ideal views on bonding and considering how stubborn Elizabeta Hédeváry can be, it might stop her running off. I think you should form another tactic. I would recommend you make your next lesson about something practical with immediate results."

The Omega stared blankly at him in return. She had the entire semester planned out and now she was suddenly being asked to change in for one student?

"Can she not learn to adapt? I mean there will come a day when she will give into nature is it not better for her to learn now?" she flustered quietly, her face red in embarrassment as she said the words.

The principal sighed but remained firm in his resolve, he didn't like what he heard the woman teach her class and had to find a way to get her to change her teaching plan or parents would start to complain. As much trouble that Elizabeta had caused, her parents had somehow come to terms with her personality, most of which he put down to his grandson's friendship with the girl. The fact that Elizabeta was among the best students in the school even passing most Alphas in grades was another matter.

"Look, I heard some of your lesson and... I don't think it's appropriate to teach that way. You need to understand that some of your students might not share your views. Yes, in the end an Omega will normally give into nature, but there have been times when they haven't and some of them went on to do great things." He told her.

Glancing up at him she nodded and mumbled, "if you think that this will work then... I suppose I could try changing my teaching plan."

"Good," he agreed, "now go back to your class, I don't think a class should be left unsupervised for too long."

Nodding again she stood up and quietly left the room.

Watching her leave Mr. Vargas turned back to the principal, a huge grin set on his face.

"So trouble with the Omegas then?" he commented and relaxed further into his seat.

"Ja," Mr. Beilschmidt agreed and pinched his nose. He had to brace himself to give out to the man in front of him. If he didn't make it clear enough he was teaching the class incorrectly then nothing would change. A plan fully formed in his head he cleared his throat and locked gazes with Mr. Vargas. "Romulus you need to censor your lessons. You are not taking them seriously enough and I highly doubt recalling past encounters is considered appropriate education. I thought I could trust you teaching the class but I may have been wrong."

The Alpha stared back at him in shock. It was rare the principal used his first name during school hours even if they were best friends, and to use it to give out to him was even more shocking.

"I just taught them the way I wanted to be taught when I was in school!" he countered. "Look Gilhart, I don't know what part of the lesson you heard but I did not tell them anything inappropriate!"

"Then why did Gilbert leave the class? You know how innocent that boy is. You were suppose to teach him in a way that did not have him running out of the class."

"Hey that's not my fault, he shouldn't have babied him as much..." he stopped when he noticed the other Alpha's expression fall. "Sorry that was too far..." he quickly apologised.

"No, you're right. If his father taught the boy himself instead of running away from Hilda's death maybe things would be different," he paused to consider what to say next.

It was a difficult subject that he wasn't comfortable talking about to anyone other than Romulus. Since his daughter in law died in an accident when Gilbert was eight the family had had to adapt to life without her. The accident affected Gilbert's younger brother Ludwig the most. Before it he was a bright happy child who would follow Gilbert around and help him plan his schemes. After he became much more reserved, a lot quieter and scorned his older brother's insane plans. Gilbert on the other hand started acting out more but he closed himself off to other things he associated with his mother. One of which was anything to do with Omegas. His mother was the perfect Omega, always submissive, never talking out of place and the most caring and nurturing mother Gilbert and Ludwig could have had. But the thing that took the most out of the family was how and when the accident occurred. She was in an ambulance going to the hospital to have her third child. For a while the family had fragmented and Gilbert and Ludwig's father would disappear for weeks on end leaving Gilhart to watch his grandchildren. Since that time things had gotten better and his son had remarried but Hilda's death still hung over them like a dark cloud.

"Romulus I need you to reign back on some aspects of what you intended to teach the class. It must be strictly formal and no personal stories in regards to Omegas," Gilhart continued. "I want Gilbert to come to terms with all of that on his own and nothing I or his father have tried to tell him has worked. He looks up to you and you know that." He fixed Romulus with a firm stare. "After all you are his godfather, no-one else can calm him down as quickly as you can. He won't listen to us most of the time and when he does, it's only when he caused a lot of trouble and even then he ignores half the things we say."

Romulus sighed but agreed with a quick nod. "Okay, I'll find out a new way to teach them without being boring. If a student falls asleep in class it's all your fault." He added the last part with a small smirk.

"Fine now go back, you don't want to leave a room full of young Alpha's on their own." Gilhart told him and pulled out a sheaf of paper from a drawer in his desk.

"You're right and bye!" he called and fled from the room.

When he got back to the class he groaned at the sight in front of him. Gilhart was right, the class should not have been left for that long which in reality, was less than ten minutes. A fight had broken out in the middle of the room. Surrounding the fighters stood other Alphas all cheering on their friends or taunting the other Alphas. Then there was Gilbert, stuck right in the middle of the fight shouting obscenities at the others and challenging anyone else willing to take him on. Shaking his head Romulus clapped his hands together in a loud bang forcing the class to give him their full attention. Immediately Gilbert leapt from a dark haired Alpha boy with glasses he held by the shirt ready to punch him.

"It was all their fault!" he shouted, "he laughed at me." He was pointing wildly at the boy he was about to punch who could only straighten up his glasses and shirt and glare at the albino.

"I don't care, everyone get back to their seats and we'll forget this. Now everyone turn to page fifty. We are going to start on a simpler subject for now and move onto what I was going to teach today next week," he commanded and took his seat behind his desk. The class slowly took their seats and started working.

Looking around his class Gilbert scowled at the Alpha he was just fighting with. He couldn't understand how such a prissy little guy could even dare challenge the Awesome him. It was impossible to understand why an annoying little piano player would want to get on his bad side. After all he was awesome and who didn't want to be friends with him? Or at the very least who didn't think he was awesome? Pushing his anger to the side for a minute he glanced down at the book and almost shouting in joy when he realised it was in fact a different topic from earlier. Yes it was biology, but it had nothing to do with Omegas. This he could learn about.


	4. The thing that changes everything

Being separated was hell. Neither would ever admit it though, but the more time they spent in their different classes the more they started to miss the other. It was the most they were separated since they met when they were six and it was also the most Elizabeta was forced to interact with the other Omegas in her class. To say the whole situation annoyed her was an understatement, she was furious she had to put up with the trivial ideals of the people surrounding her and couldn't wait for the bell to ring signalling the end of her Omega classes. However, there was one thing she was thankful for, her teacher was no longer the straight out of a Disney film air head she was on her first day. For some reason she suddenly seemed to understand that Elizabeta wanted to live differently and even if it was obvious she wanted the young Omega to give into her nature, she was willing to work with her and find compromises in her teaching method. At the very least Elizabeta didn't want to scream at her as much as she did during that first lesson. Then there were the days like that one when everything Miss. Penney did and everyone around her for that matter got on her nerves. Her senses were heightened and every whisper, every giggle, every cut off sentence made her paranoid. Every time anyone accidentally brushed up against her she forced herself to suppress a shudder and pushed herself as far away from people as possible. It was like her hearing and sense of touch was on hyper-drive and everyone was talking about her and out to make her life that little more difficult. She just wanted to get out of there and talk to Gilbert. When the bell finally went, she raced from their sewing class and out the door, immediately seeking out Gilbert she threw herself on top of him in a binding hug.

"Woah Liz... are you okay?" Gilbert gasped and held onto her.

Nodding she nuzzled her nose into his neck and breathed in. It was the first time she felt relaxed since she left his side that morning for her Omega classes.

"Right... well I was thinking how about we get some ice cream?" he suggested with a cheeky grin, "last one there has to pay!" He pushed her back and held by her shoulders at arm's length. His ruby eyes twinkling in the sun.

Elizabeta glared at him, her paranoia had finally subsided when he hugged her back and now she felt very exposed. Taking a deep breath she looked to his sides. Antonio and Francis were notably missing.

"Where are the others?" she asked after a slight pause. Her body didn't seem to want to follow her brain's commands and even though there were times when the other two disappeared, now she was actually glad they were gone.

"Oh they had to go to Spain, apparently they needed to learn about their families joint business venture or something," Gilbert answered then crossed his arms, his grin returning.

"Okay... then yeah sure, lets get ice cream," Elizabeta chirped and a small smile formed on her lips.

"Awesome, race ya!" Gilbert cheered and started running out the gate and down the road, Elizabeta close behind him.

Zipping between pedestrians and across the streets they eventually made it to the ice cream shop, Elizabeta trailing in behind Gilbert. Spinning to mock the Omega, Gilbert froze when he saw her. She was exhausted, her face was bright red, her hair was plastered to her skin and she was gasping for breath.

"I know... I have to pay," she panted and failed to notice the concern in his eyes. By now she was worried, she didn't feel like herself and a race that she normally won or at the very least wouldn't exhaust her had left her gasping for breath.

"No you don't. I'll pay," Gilbert offered, his voice wavering slightly as he took in how his friend was acting. Then something else hit him, she smelt different. Almost like honey, but different in a way he couldn't describe.

"What? Why?" she snapped and stood bolt upright. "I lost that means I have to pay!"

"Because I'm awesome that's why!" Gilbert exclaimed and pointed his thumb to his chest.

Staring wide eyed at the Alpha, Elizabeta felt a blush creep over her cheeks and nodded dumbly at the statement. Normally she would have hit him for saying something so egotistical but now she kind of liked it. She liked how in control he appeared. Shaking her head to clear those thoughts she forced her eyes to the ground and mumbled, "okay but I want marshmallows."

"No problem!" With that Gilbert ran up to the counter and ordered their ice cream. He already knew Elizabeta's order off by heart considering she always bought the same mint chocolate chip and Oreo ice cream cone every time they got ice cream.

As Gilbert got their ice cream Elizabeta chose a table near the window to sit down at. Perching herself on the edge of the seat, her elbows propped up on the table she looked around the small shop. The walls of the shop were lined with large jars of sweets Elizabeta adored but never could convince her parents to let her buy. They were fine with ice cream every so often but they discouraged her from eating sweets. Why though, she had no idea. There were only three other patrons in the shop who were completely wrapped up in their own conversation happily ignoring her as she looked around. Then there was Gilbert paying for the ice cream. She let her eyes linger on him for a few moments longer than she meant to. She intended to see what colour the cashier had dyed her hair (the young Beta had a penchant for dying her hair bright colours with even brighter streaks) but was completely absorbed in watching her Alpha friend. That was until he turned around carrying the ice cream like it was a prize. Once again she felt a blush creep over her cheeks and forced herself to look anywhere else.

"There you go!" he said leaving the ice cream down in front of her. He grinned at her until she returned her smile and looked down at the dessert.

"Hey this is in a tub! And where are the marshmallows?" she asked when she noticed the lack of cone and spongy sweets. In the marshmallows place were nuts.

"I thought you might like this better," he shrugged and plopped himself down in the opposite chair and started devouring his cone. After a moment he stopped and burst out laughing. "Hey look!" he said holding the ice cream out in front of her, she glared at him in return still not happy about her ice cream. "It looks like a melted Smurf!" Blinking she spared a glance at the ice cream then giggled when she noticed the resemblance. The blue bubblegum ice cream had a scoop of mostly white Oreo ice cream on top that when he ate away some it did in fact appear like a melted Smurf. Snorting she suddenly burst into laughter and let her anger about the ice cream fade. "Told ya," Gilbert smirked and returned to his ice cream. Reluctantly Elizabeta grabbed for her spoon and started eating hers. To her utter shock it was exactly what she wanted and within a minute it was gone leaving Gilbert staring at her in shock.

"I think I'm going to get that the next time we're here," she smiled and relaxed back into her chair.

"Hey Liz... are you okay?" Gilbert asked and raised an eyebrow in her direction. "You're acting weird and... you ate the ice cream. Don't you hate nuts?"

Elizabeta stilled at the questions. It was true. She never ate nuts and just then she thought they were amazing on the ice cream. That and Gilbert wasn't even finished his yet.

"Yeah, I'm fine!" she exclaimed with as much fake confidence she could muster. Once again she was worried.

"Then why do you smell weird?"

The question hit her like a ton of bricks. She smelt weird? She didn't eat anything different apart from the nuts and she didn't wear perfume. She was stunned into silence.

"So I thought if I got you nuts instead of marshmallows you might get mad at me and go back to normal but..." he trailed off and watched her carefully. She was avoiding eye contact and acting skittishly. By now she would have shouted at him and more than likely hit him, but she didn't and it almost looked like she was being submissive. That was impossible, right? Liz would never submit. His thoughts raced at the possibility as to why his friend was acting so strange. But they all landed back to one explanation and one he didn't want to acknowledge. She was too awesome to give into nature.

"I think I need to go home..." she murmured and pushed her seat out to get up.

Jumping to his feet Gilbert held a hand up to stop her.

"I'll walk you home," he commanded and without so much of an argument Elizabeta nodded and let him lead the way. Gulping Gilbert grabbed her by the hand and led her out of the shop, throwing his remaining ice cream in the bin.

They walked the short distance to her house in silence until they got to Elizabeta's street. A sudden wave of warmth washed over her and she doubled over with a whimper.

"Gil," she begged and clung onto his sleeve. "Something's not right." She felt too exposed, the sun was too bright, there were too many dangers around yet there was no-one in sight and only neatly trimmed hedges lined the side of the footpath. Even more worrying than all that, the smells were all wrong. Only one made her feel calm; Gilbert's. Staring up at the young Alpha she clung desperately to his shoulder and buried her face in his clothes and inhaled. She immediately felt relieved the more she breathed in his scent and failed to notice him freeze then slowly edge his face closer to hers. "Get me home... please it's too open here," her voice came out in barely a whisper but it was enough to snap Gilbert back to reality and pull back.

Nodding furiously he tried to forget what he almost did. He was too awesome to do anything like that and he really didn't like how Elizabeta was acting. The girl clinging to him was not one of his best friends, she had to have been replaced by an alien or something.

"Yeah the awesome me can do that," he agreed and picked her up bridal style and slowly started making the walk to her house. The very short journey suddenly becoming a lot more difficult by his traitorous body.

Elizabeta only huddled closer to him pressing her nose against his neck. He had to stop several times to stop his head from swirling, having her that close and her scent, her glorious scent surrounding him was too much. Somehow through sheer perseverance they made it to Elizabeta's house. Standing outside her family's large two story manor Gilbert rang the doorbell and impatiently waited on someone to answer.

"Hey someone answer now! Liz needs help!" he shouted through the thick oak doors. Still no-one answered. Gritting his teeth he tried to ignore Elizabeta who had started pleading for him to get closer. Taking one final look at the door he bunched his fists up in frustration that there was still no-one answering. He had to get the key off Elizabeta and he wasn't sure how he would do that. She didn't seem able to think straight and he didn't want to leave her alone.

"Liz," he mumbled and looked straight up at the sky, he couldn't look at her. "We need to get your key I don't think your Mutti heard the doorbell."

Shuffling in his arms Elizabeta pushed herself away from his chest to reach into her jeans and pulled out a key. She held it up in front of her face, squinting through tear rimmed eyes at the small yellow bird on the keyring. "You gave me this..." she muttered almost to herself.

Glancing down he shuddered and for a second his heart stopped and his will broke. She looked between him and the keyring, her face flushed and her eyes half lidded. He had never seen her like that before and it took his breath away. Without a second of hesitation he pulled her face up to his and pushed their lips together. Gasping into the kiss Elizabeta wrapped her arms tighter around his neck and kissed back. Before anything else could happen the door swung open and a loud shout broke them apart. Elizabeta's mother stood gobsmacked at the door.

"Elizabeta! Gilbert! What in the..." she stammered and just as quickly as she opened the door she pulled Elizabeta into her arms and away from Gilbert. Elizabeta whined at the sudden movement and desperately tried to clamber back to Gilbert.

Snapping out of his trance-like state Gilbert blushed furiously at the older Omega and started stammering off an explanation about how he tried to get Elizabeta back when he noticed she was acting strange. Gasping for breath he slowly backed away from Elizabeta until he neared the edge of the step.

"Thanks for bringing her back but you need to get out of here Gilbert and don't think I won't tell your parents," the woman warned him then slammed the door shut.

Clenching his fists in his hair Gilbert cringed at the thought of what he was going to do, what they were going to do. Then like a bucket of water reality hit him. He almost took an Omega, one of his best friends and she was twelve and he was only just thirteen. He would be lucky if he wasn't sent to military school for this. Despite how much trouble he knew he was in, his mind kept falling back to the fact that it was official. Elizabeta was an Omega and it wasn't something he could pretend wasn't true anymore. That thought terrified him more than anything else. Spinning on his heel he raced out the gate and back to his house which happened to only be a few houses down the road. Rushing in through the even more impressive mansion he reached his room and slammed the door shut. He needed time to think and figure out how to deal with what just happened.

Meanwhile in Elizabeta's house Elizabeta's mother clung her daughter to her chest and quickly made her way through the manor until they reached Elizabeta's room. Laying her daughter on the bed, she tried to calm the girl but failing that she quickly ran off and returned with arms full of blankets and soft furnishings like cushions and pillows. As Elizabeta lay squirming on the bed and whimpering for Gilbert to return her mother set out on making a nest. When satisfied with the results, she moved her daughter to it and wrapped a blanket around her.

"Sweetie, it'll be okay..." she soothed and silently left the room, shutting the door behind her. Elizabeta's eyes widened at the sudden loss of company but calmed when she saw her mother return with a small brown box. "Shhh, Lizzie I need you to pay attention." Elizabeta blearily gazed up at her mother and watched her pull a pink object out of the box. Her eyes widened as she realised what it was. The final nail in her coffin and the final confirmation of her nature. "I noticed a few changes in you over the last few days and I didn't want to say anything in case I would scare you... but I suppose it's too late for that now. So anyway I got you these for when your first heat started and I was hoping to talk to you this evening about it actually," she chuckled dryly at the sheer ill timing of everything. "I thought that you would have at least two more days until this started and..."

"I want Gil.." Elizabeta cut her off in a pathetic beg. "I just want Gil." She felt tears trickle down her cheeks but refused to acknowledge them.

"Lizzie, sweetheart you can't..." Elizabeta wasn't listening. Instead she curled up into a ball and started crying. Knowing she couldn't do anything to help her daughter, she walked over to the curtains and shut them. Sighing she looked over her daughter and knelt down beside her. "I'm going to lock the door from the outside, but you still have your en-suite and I will bring food up until this passes. The first one is always the worst but don't worry, when it passes you'll feel weak but it will get better." Saddened that her daughter was still ignoring her she left the room, the door closing with a click after her, effectively telling Elizabeta her fate was sealed.

Overcome by a feeling of being trapped she quickly shed her clothes and gasped at the relief it brought. Curling back up into a ball she stared at the box of "toys" her mother left. She didn't want to use them and she wouldn't. But she couldn't stop her hand from inching closer, she couldn't stop her mind from fantasising about a certain Alpha. She couldn't stop the shame that her moans, cries of pleasure and emptiness brought her. She couldn't stop her self-hatred from taking over. What she felt before was bad, but this was a new kind of hell. Her heats have officially started and much earlier than all her peers. She could no longer hide from her nature.


	5. The anarchist arrives

The next day Gilbert woke up near dawn. Glancing out the window he scrunched his eyes together in the light. Picking up the clock on his nightstand he gasped at the time, it was just after six a.m. Bringing him out of his trance his stomach growled loudly telling him he had indeed fallen asleep when he got home and no-one had some to scold him. If anything he expected his step-mother to be the first one threatening to break down his door then rip him apart for being so stupid. Groaning at the pain growing in his stomach he pushed himself from his bed and kicked off his shoes. Carefully he opened his door and silently made his way to the kitchen. Expensive modern art hung off every carefully decorated wall as he passed, when he got to the large grand staircase he looked around. Satisfied he was still alone he padded down them, avoiding the one stair that creaked he soon found himself in the main hallway. The mansion was large, the floors were covered in expensive grey marble tiles on which lay even more expensive rugs and furniture. The whole place was immaculate and each piece of modern pine furniture was gleaming and free of dust. After what seemed like an age he finally made it to the kitchen. Crossing the room he passed shining black granite counter tops and state of the art kitchen appliances he pulled open the door of a large steel grey American fridge. Amazed he found a plate with what he assumed was last night's dinner. Pulling it out he grinned to see it was a plate of the Vargas' pasta. On it lay a note saying:

_Gilbert we need to talk about what happened. I don't think dragging you out of your room would make things any better but what you did was very serious and there will be consequences. You also missed a very important dinner last night and I can promise you that will not happen again._

_Your father._

Groaning as he read it, he pulled off the cling film protecting the food and popped it into the microwave for five minutes. As he waited he searched the joining rooms hoping to find some clue as to what dinner he missed, the only clue he found was the pasta itself. He knew the Vargas's were coming over but they always did. It wasn't anything new. Sighing he sat himself down at the breakfast bar and sank his head into his hands. He didn't want anyone to wake up, he didn't want to be told off for trying to get his best friend home. Falling back into dreamland he didn't notice someone sneaking up behind him.

"Gilbert why are you up so early?" came a voice from behind him. Jumping Gilbert spun on his stool and stared wide eyed at the eight year old blonde boy who stood behind him rubbing his steel blue eyes. A fuzzy blue blanket wrapped around his shoulders. "Where were you yesterday anyway? Vatti was looking everywhere for you."

"Ludwig don't sneak up on me like that!" Gilbert gasped and clutched his hand to his chest, he could have sworn he was going to have a heart attack when Ludwig suddenly appeared.

"Sorry, so why are you up and where were you?"

"I got hungry and I was being awesome yesterday so I went to bed early," he quickly explained, just as he said that the microwave beeped telling him his food was ready. Rushing over he grabbed a dishcloth to pick the plate up and took the plate out of the microwave, blowing on it occasionally to cool the boiling food down. On his way back to his stool he grabbed a fork and a glass of water then started wolfing down the food.

"Okay... Vatti was really mad at you for some reason though, what did you do?"

Gilbert froze, a piece of pasta dangled from his lips.

"Um... I don't know if I can. I mean I'm so awesome I tried to help out but..." he stammered and threw the rest of his food into him. Punching his chest to encourage the food stuck in his throat to move on down he placed his plate in the dishwasher. Then downing the glass of water he put the empty glass in beside it.

"He said something about Liz, did something happen?"

Gilbert clenched his eyes shut. There were times he hated when his brother was smart.

"Ja... something happened and I might get in a lot of trouble for it."

"Is that why you smell funny?"

Gilbert stopped in his tracks. He smelt weird? He hadn't noticed it but then again how could he?

"What do I smell like?" he asked hesitantly.

"Honey and something... I think crackers but nicer," Ludwig scrunched up his face as he thought of what exactly his older brother smelt of.

"Scheiße... this isn't good," Gilbert ran a hand through his hair and sank into a stool.

"You know you shouldn't swear," Ludwig told him and took the stool beside his. "Oh yeah Vatti said you should have been at the dinner last night."

Gilbert spared his younger brother a look and forced himself to ask why.

"Because the Hédeváry's were over and our families were supposed to arrange something."

"Why?" Gilbert couldn't think of a reason that was important enough to force him to go to one dinner.

"I heard them talking about something... umm it was to do with Elizabeta and time or something..." Ludwig trailed off and stared down at the floor in concentration.

"Did you not go to the dinner?"

"No, Feliciano, his brother and grandfather were over. They kept me out of the dining room the entire time," Ludwig explained. "I would have tried to listen in more but Feli kept distracting me."

"It's okay," Gilbert comforted his brother and messed up his hair. "You were awesome for getting that much info anyway." He grinned down at the grumpy boy who tried to fix his hair.

"Don't do that!" he scolded and jumped down from the stool.

Just then a small yellow bird flew into the room and started pecking angrily at Gilbert's cheek.

"Sorry Gilbird!" he cried and ran over to a cupboard and pulled out a bag of bird seed.

Leading the way back up to his room they quickly covered the distance and closed the door behind them. Moving across the room he filled Gilbird's feed dish in his cage and sat back to watch the small canary yellow bird eat. It still chirped angrily at Gilbert but he knew it was just mad at him for not taking care of it the night before.

"Oi West you should go back to bed," he said to his younger brother who had plopped himself down on Gilbert's bed and wrapped himself in the blankets.

"Why do you call me West?" Ludwig grumpily asked for what he must have considered the millionth time.

"Kesesese because I'm awesome," Gilbert replied, waiting for an answer Gilbert watched Gilbird dance around his cage now happy he got fed. However his reply went on deaf ears and he turned to see Ludwig sleeping in a bundle of blankets. Sighing Gilbert decided it was probably not the best to wake the boy and set about doing the homework he obviously didn't do the night before. Slouching over to his desk he pulled his bag close and threw out the books. He spent the next hour and a half grumbling angrily as he solved various math's, English and German problems until it was finally complete. Leaning back into the seat he heard other people starting to move in the house. Then suddenly there was a knock on his door. Casting a final look over Ludwig, he got up and slowly pulled the door open. To his horror his father stood on the other side, glowering down at his son.

"Gilbert a word," he commanded.

Gilbert nodded and quickly left the room, silently shutting the door behind him.

They made their way down to his father's study which consisted of sterile white walls, portraits framed in thick black wood and black furniture.

Seating himself down on one of the uncomfortable squarish armchairs he eventually looked up at his father and saw fury raging through his grayish eyes. His greying blonde hair seemed to stand on end and his wrinkles appeared more prominent around his eyes. He had never seen his father as mad at him as he did now.

"I want you to explain exactly what happened yesterday between you and the Hédeváry girl right now," his father demanded.

Gulping down his fear Gilbert launched into his explanation, trying to make it as concise as possible and explain everything and why he did what he did. The only part he couldn't save himself on was when he kissed her. His face lit up a bright red as he recalled that moment. Once finished he stared at his father hoping against hope he would understand it was all a mistake and he tried to help. But that didn't happen. Instead his father started shouting at him, demeaning his son's actions telling him how stupid he was and to make matters worse how stupid he was to miss the dinner the night before. Apparently nobody knew Gilbert was in his room sleeping and because his phone had died they assumed he was out with his friends again and lost track of time. Gilbert had no choice but to sit through the lecture and listen. If he tried to interject he knew he would only be met with more anger. Eventually silence took over and Gilbert found enough bravery to ask the question he wanted to ask all morning.

"Why was that dinner so important?"

His father's eyes went wide and he slammed his fist into the desk.

"That dinner was to decide your future! But now there is a chance it could have all been ruined!" his father yelled at him. Gilbert could see a vein threatening to pop on the side of his father's face but decided to try and ignore it.

"How?"

"How? You dare ask how? Gilbert the Hédeváry's were here to arrange to see if we would allow for you to take Elizabeta as your mate in the future, but because you were sleeping they couldn't decide for themselves if they wanted you as a son in law."

Gilbert stared at the man in utter shock. He was probably going to have an arranged marriage? And he missed the main dinner that normally started the whole ordeal? He expected something like this but not as soon. Sure arranged marriages were fairly common among the richer people in society and as far as he knew his family was one of the richest in the world thanks to their car company and a few others he didn't know much about. But he expected to be almost forced to marry someone less awesome than Liz and now… he didn't know how he felt. A strange twisting feeling settled in his stomach the more he thought about it. He didn't hate the idea, in fact he liked it… a bit. He was too awesome to admit to liking the idea of marrying Liz.

"Can I do anything to help?" he asked shakily when the information finally sank in.

His father's eyes opened in surprise. He was not expecting his son to react as well as he did. He fully expected a tantrum and for Gilbert to disappear for a few hours. Not to ask how he could help. Did he want to marry Elizabeta?

"I suppose you could," he informed his son, "first you need to take it upon yourself to apologise to them and arrange another dinner. It has to be here and before the end of Elizabeta's heat. You cannot go over there, do you understand?"

Gilbert nodded in confirmation.

"But there is the issue of what happened. They will not forgive you for that so easily and I am still considering sending you to military school to sort out your... behavioural issues before I can even allow you to marry." He set his son with a firm glare.

Once again Gilbert nodded.

"Okay now go get ready for school and get a shower first, you still smell of her and we do not need people asking questions. Oh and any more mishaps and I will call off this and you will be sent off to military school."

As soon as he was let free Gilbert raced up to his room, grabbed a towel and took a quick shower. Coming back into his room he noticed Ludwig had left and he quickly got change, grabbed a slice of toast from the kitchen and made his way to school.

When he got to school he was glad the smell had washed off otherwise he couldn't imagine the amount of questioning he would have gotten. One thing he was glad of more than any other was the fact Francis and Antonio were back and he could, for now at least escape his home life.

~o~o~o~o~o~

Somehow Gilbert was able to arrange another dinner with the Hédeváry's for that evening and despite a few mistakes he made an overall good impression. The fact the he actually was Elizabeta's best friend only aided his cause.

The one thing that did almost ruin the entire night was the events of the previous day. Elizabeta's mother Evike Hédeváry, was still furious with him over what had happened. At the start she refused to listen to his reasons for what happened but eventually calmed.

For some reason Gilbert couldn't feel happier when they left feeling a lot better about their daughter's future as he was considered a potential Alpha for her.

Then again he was too awesome not to consider?

However there was one clause, he would have to find a way to make her accept her nature. That was one aspect he wasn't comfortable with, but he knew there had to be a way around it. He was awesome enough to help her find it too.

~o~o~o~o~o~

Elizabeta hesitantly stepped into the room and grimaced as the murmur of conversations suddenly died. The group of Omegas sitting near the front of the room suddenly snapped their attention to her and suddenly bolted towards her. Within seconds she was surrounded and the questions began.

"What was it like?"

"How did it feel? Was it good?"

"Who are you gonna take as an Alpha?"

"Do you feel any different now?"

"You smell different, how did you know when it hit?"

"Did Gilbert really..."

The last question was abruptly cut short by a loud shout from the back. Shifting their attention in that direction they saw Gilbert angrily glaring at the group, his face bright red in embarrassment.

"Leave her alone! How would any of you guys feel if you were suddenly bombarded with questions? It's totally unawesome and you all should back off!" he yelled at them and forced them to slink back to their chairs. He shot Elizabeta an awkward smile and made his way back to his chair, Francis and Antonio sparing comforting smiles in her direction as well.

"SÍ, you should just ignore them Liz," Antonio said in as comforting voice as he could.

Nodding Elizabeta couldn't help but agree with him and quickly took her seat beside them. As she took out her notebooks and set up her table for the class the teacher walked in, a new student following shortly after. Once again silence fell over the class as they analysed the newcomer. Since her heat Elizabeta's sense of smell was still heightened allowing her to pick out the newcomer's scent over the rest of the class. However it only left her confused. By now she was able to tell whether someone was an Alpha, Beta or Omega, but the newcomer wore so much deodorant it masked his natural scent. She could only assume the newcomer was an Alpha given his stance and wardrobe choice. He was shorter than average, had spiky blonde hair that Elizabeta could have sworn she saw some green in. He wore tight black jeans with a chain hanging off the heavily studded belt, a slightly loser top with Sex Pistols written on it. The most surprising thing about his appearance was the abundance of piercings he wore. From what Elizabeta could tell he had at least twenty in his ears alone. Not counting the two in his right eyebrow, the one on his nose Elizabeta couldn't hazard a guess at how many he actually had. That's when she noticed the other thing that almost made her burst out laughing. If she didn't see the piercing through one of them she could have sworn the boy had glued caterpillars to his face in place of eyebrows. Then there were his striking green eyes, that were focused directly on her in an angry glare...

"Okay class," the grey haired Beta teacher started, she pushed her wire frame glasses up her straight nose and gazed around with sharp grey eyes. "I would like to introduce your new classmate Arthur Kirwan, he is an exchange student from England. Arthur would you like to tell everyone about yourself?" she turned her attention back to the boy.

"No thanks, I would rather not," he answered quickly, his glare never faltering. "Where's my seat?" he shot an icy look his teachers way.

"Are you sure you don't..."

"As I said before and I will say it again, no. I don't see a reason to tell them about myself in the hopes we shall all become best friends and live happily ever after," he retorted, fire flaring in his eyes. The second he uttered the words a wave of laughter went through the Alphas and Betas, Elizabeta joining in. Smirking at the reaction Arthur continued to stare at the teacher until she eventually conceded.

"Fine take the empty seat beside Miss Hédeváry," she told him and took her own seat behind her desk, "she's the Omega near the back... the one with brown hair."

Arthur once again smirked and stepped forward through the lines of desks until he reached his. Turning to Elizabeta he set her with an angry look and bent over to her. "Find something funny when I came in?" he asked in an angry hushed tone.

Returning his look Elizabeta grinned at the challenge. "Yeah, your eyebrows. Did you decide to glue caterpillars to them this morning or do they always look that way?" she returned.

Arthur turned a pale shade of pink and rage burned in his eyes. "They're hereditary," he answered shortly, "and shouldn't an Omega keep her mouth shut?"

It wasn't even a second after the words escaped his lips did he notice gravity suddenly shift and he was lifted into the air. Panicking he glanced down to see searing red eyes glowering into his green.

"Le...let me down!" he screamed at the albino and started thrashing to get out of the other boys grip.

"Apologise," Gilbert growled at him and tightened his grip on Arthur's top, threatening to strangle him.

"Wh...Why in the bloody hell should I? That... that bitch.." he was met with a fist to his face and was sent flying into another desk. The Beta girl sitting at it jumped away from the two with a scream.

Scrambling onto his back, Arthur stared wide eyed at the Alpha towering over him. He could see and feel everyone's eyes boring holes into him.

"Gilbert, leave him," Elizabeta warned him. Watching the Omega move from her seat, Arthur could see the anger in Gilbert's face disappear and confusion set in.

"But Liz..."

"No! He's an ass but if he has a problem with me I can sort it out myself," she sent Arthur a competitive smirk and crossed her arms.

"Fine, but if he hurts you, the awesome me will beat the living shit out of him," Gilbert conceded and glared down at the blonde who was still on the floor.

Before anyone could say or do anything else both Gilbert and Arthur were dragged out of the room by their teacher. The middle aged woman muttering furiously under her breath. The next thing they knew they were in front of the principal who shot daggers at his grandson.

"I suppose you're going to say it's not your fault again Gilbert," the man sighed and kept his eyes firmly on his grandson.

Gilbert refused to answer and instead stared at the wall in front of him.

"Gilbert, if you don't answer me now you will be in for hell when you get home."

That was enough to convince Gilbert to start talking and he quickly reamed off the events that had happened in the classroom. Gilhart nodded slowly, glad that for once his grandson's recount of events was almost identical to the teachers. The one glaring difference was the reason he started the fight.

"So you expect me to believe you started that fight because Arthur insulted Miss Hédeváry?" he asked and Gilbert nodded furiously in agreement.

"Ja, he told her to shut up cause she's an Omega!"

Gilhart spared a look at Arthur who was staring at one spot on the wall for the entire time, his face red with anger and a large bruise forming on his left cheek.

"Mr. Kirkland is this true?" he asked.

Arthur forced his attention back to the man and glared at him, eyes brimming with tears.

"...yes," he said in a small mumble.

Pinching the bridge of his nose Gilhart tried in vain to figure out why the boy would say such a thing. Unable to reach a conclusion he eventually decided to ask.

"Why would an Omega say that to another Omega?" The blond boy froze in place, his eyes like saucers as he stared in complete shock at the principal.

"I... I uh... didn't want anyone to know... about my," he trailed off and tears started trickling down his cheeks.

It was now Gilbert's turn to stare at the blonde. Never had he imagined the hot tempered newcomer was an Omega, if anything he thought he was an Alpha or at the very least a Beta.

"You're an Omega?" he stammered and twisted in his seat to watch the boy.

Arthur nodded slowly and let his gaze fall to the floor.

"Wait, what happened to your piercings? And wasn't your name Kirwan?" Gilbert couldn't help but ask as many questions as he could now he had started.

"Gilbert stop it now," Gilhart warned him, but Gilbert didn't listen and continued to question the boy.

"Come on! If you thought you were so awesome before don't be unawesome now! Why did the teacher say you had a different name and where are your piercings?"

"I... asked the teacher to tell everyone I had a different name because my family's really famous and I don't want anyone knowing who I am. As for the piercings they're clip-ons," Arthur mumbled sadly and brushed back a stray tear. He reached in his pocket and held his hand out with the contents. Sure enough in it lay the earrings and nose ring he had worn earlier.

At this Gilhart raised an eyebrow, he wasn't told that Arthur wanted to remain anonymous. As for the piercings he never noticed the piercings that adorned the boy's face, but considering the amount in Arthur's outstretched hand, he could only imagine how many he wore to class.

"But the eyebrow ones... why are they still in?" Gilbert asked completely oblivious to anything other than getting answers.

"They're real, I got them yesterday when I snuck out," Arthur smirked at the memory of his parents finding out and the horror on their faces.

"That's awesome!" Gilbert suddenly exclaimed and shot to his feet, "you and Liz are gonna get along great. She hates all those unawesome Omegas and you're not like them! But next time don't say anything mean to her or I will have to be awesome and kick your arse." Gilbert had a cheeky grin plastered to his face.

Staring up at the albino boy Arthur couldn't believe the transformation he was just witness to. One minute this boy wanted to beat him into a pulp, the next he was telling him he would get along great with the Omega he just insulted. This was a very strange day.

Gilhart coughed to break up the conversation and motioned towards the clock behind him.

"Boys, I think I can trust you two to not start something like this again," he said and stood up. "If it does happen again, Gilbert you will be held accountable." Gilbert tried to oppose but was met with a quick shush and fell back into silence. "As for now you both need to be going to class, Arthur I will walk you to yours," he walked out from behind his desk over to the door and held it open.

Arthur fell into step behind the principal and Gilbert fled down the hall as soon as he escaped the office.

A few almost too short minutes later Arthur and the principal were outside a class. After Gilhart knocked Miss. Penney opened the door and spared a confused look down at the boy.

"Miss. Penney this is your new student Arthur Kirwan, please make sure to ensure he is included into your class... he may have a few difficulties getting along with his classmates," Gilhart explained and pushed the boy forward.

Arthur glared at the teacher, he could already tell she was the kind of Omega he hated and was not going to bend to her will so easily.

"Oh, okay then. Welcome to the school Arthur I hope you..." she said in a kind voice but Arthur pushed passed her.

Shaking his head Gilhart left the teacher to figure out how to deal with the boy, after all he was much too busy fixing Gilbert's last mess to think about much else.

Quickly scooting into the class she looked at the boy who had drawn the eyes of every Omega in the room.

"Arthur if you want to take a seat we can start class," she told him with a faint smile.

"Tch, what if I don't want to?" he snorted. His eyes were firmly set on Elizabeta who glared daggers back in return.

"Well I suppose you could stand there..."

"I was wondering why it looked like you were gonna start crying when Gilbert hit you," Elizabeta shot at him, venom lacing every word.

"Humph and he just said you weren't that bad in the principal's office, I guess he was wrong," Arthur replied casually, a smirk once again playing on his face.

"That depends on who I have to deal with," her nostrils flared in anger.

"Okay Arthur please take a seat now or I will be forced to get the principal back," Miss Penney cut in. They turned their attention back to the woman and saw she had turned a bright shade of red and was panting; like that one minute of authority had taken a lot out of her. But if Elizabeta didn't know any better, it probably did.

Annoyed Arthur took the only free armchair in the room and reclined back into the plush blue fabric.

"Good," Miss. Penney said and let a smile return to her lips. "Okay to start today off I suppose all of you know by now that one member of our class has reached her first stage of adulthood." All eyes shifted to Elizabeta aside from Arthur's, he was too busy analysing the room in sheer disgust at the furnishings and pictures that decorated the room. "So Elizabeta want to talk about it? You may be able to help the rest of your class."

Elizabeta was frozen in place; that was the last thing she wanted to do at that moment. She was only just accepting that she was an Omega but she was far from happy about it, now though she knew she couldn't escape it.

"I don't want to talk about it," she told them as firmly as she could.

The optimistic looks being sent her way suddenly dulled and she could feel pressure to tell them everything build the longer they stared.

"But Elizabeta, some of your classmates are a little scared about what will happen. Can you not reassure them it's normal and that there is nothing to worry ab..." she was cut off by a sharp laugh from Arthur. Snapping their attention to the blonde they watched him break into uncontrollable laughter and fall off the seat. Calming he reached the arm and pulled himself up; still chucking under his breath.

"Yes because that's exactly what it's like. Listen up class it's like a dream! One day out of nowhere you suddenly get this weird feeling and it's like half of your body is on fire, and not in the good way. You're left for a fucking week bedridden while you moan and plea for any fucking Alpha who just happens to be near to come in and shove their dick in you! Is that really something that people want? Oh and don't even get me started on the slick, it feels like shit when your arse is wet for so fucking long and you know what there's not a damn thing anyone can do about it. Want to know why? Because that is the blessing of being the bearers of the future, an amazing Omega. Oh and lets not forget what happens when you just happen to be hanging out with an Alpha when your heat starts, chances are they will try and shag you! Yeah now tell me how amazing that is!" Arthur spat out viciously. Miss. Penney stared at him in complete shock, she had never heard an Omega talk like that about heats before, let alone swear. "What? Do you honestly think all that pain and humiliation of having your mother go out and buy you a fucking dildo and then having to hear you the entire time is a blessing? Oh wait you're the kind of Omega that thinks Disney portrayed things realistically." Panting harshly after his rant he glared daggers at the teacher who paled at the confrontation.

"You surprise me Arthur," Elizabeta said with a slight laugh, she was the only one brave enough to break the silence. "But you forgot how weak you feel and how embarrassing it is when your body makes you give in when there is an Alpha around, you can't even control what you say then."

Arthur smirked at her; it was the last thing he expected to see Elizabeta agreeing with him. "Heats really are the worst aren't they?"

"Yep, they fucking suck," she reclined back into her red beanbag, "and the smell, when mines finally ended I stunk of sweat and slick. It was disgusting, to make it worse my mother just smiled when I finally was able to leave my room yesterday like I hadn't spent the whole fucking week... you know..."

"Yes I know exactly what you mean, but you could always have it worse..." Arthur sighed at pinched the bridge of his nose. He fought to suppress the memories of having his first heat being published in English papers a mere month before hand. God he hated being from that family.

"True, I heard about some prince form some other country a while ago who had it broadcast," Elizabeta agreed and thankfully for Arthur she missed the grimace that ran across his face.

After a moment of silence it was broken by a small command from Miss. Penney. "Both of you go to the principal's office now and take this note," she told them and held out a small note.

"After you then," Arthur said with a jeer and stood up from his seat. Elizabeta complied with a grin and took the note and left the room.

Outside they slowly made their way to the office.

"Would never have guessed you were an Omega," Elizabeta started.

"I would rather not let a type hold me back," Arthur answered, "you know for an Omega you are not that bad."

"Well apart from earlier neither are you," Elizabeta returned and sent a sideways grin his way. "I don't think they expected that."

"No they did not, but they will know soon enough, naive morons," Arthur laughed dryly at the events set out in front of his classmates. "Do you think we are going to get in a lot of trouble for swearing?"

"No," Elizabeta scoffed and Arthur raised a thick eyebrow in confusion, seeing this she continued, "Gilbert is Mr. Beilschmidt's grandson and Gilbert is my best friend. We never get in a lot of trouble... well normally anyway."

"Really? I did not know that."

"Yeah to make it even better Gilbert's in line to be head Alpha after his dad so he can't be seen to have too much on his permanent record or he can't take over."

"Fascinating... but he isn't here right now, are you sure we will be fine without him?"

"Probably... I once beat up a Beta girl who wanted to marry her brother," Elizabeta shuddered at the concept, "Gilbert was sick then but apparently I have exemplary circumstances that my parents arranged with the Beilschmidt's that make me immune to getting into too much trouble. But there are lines I can't cross... and I don't think I crossed one this time. I was just honest."

Arthur considered her answer before nodding in hope that they really wouldn't get in too much trouble, if all else fails he could always use his family's power to get them out of trouble.

They turned a corner and gasped when they saw a very familiar albino waiting outside the principal's office.

"Gilbert," Elizabeta called and raced forward. "Why are you here?"

Gilbert turned to grin at the two, "I was just being awesome and then that prissy Edelstein prick said something about your heat so I punched him!" he said as easily as he would if he were recounting a funny story in which he didn't beat someone up. "You guys?" Elizabeta stopped at the question.

"We swore in class and told them exactly what heats are like," Arthur filled him in and shot Elizabeta an understanding look. "It seems like they didn't appreciate the truth."

"That's awesome! So are you guys friends?"

"Sort of, I'm still gonna beat him up," Elizabeta supplied before Arthur could answer.

"I look forward to the fight," Arthur challenged, his eyes glinting in delight.

The door beside them opened and Gilhart walked out, looking down at the small queue he sighed and took the note from Elizabeta, reading it he glared at the Omegas and pulled Gilbert into his office. As he disappeared into the room Gilbert said a cheery farewell and winked at the two. Elizabeta suddenly felt her cheeks redden and forced them to return to their normal colour.

"So... who was the Alpha you were with when your heat started," Arthur asked when an uncomfortable silence fell over them.

"Why should I tell you?" Elizabeta retorted.

"Because I saw you blush there now."

"If you saw that then you don't need to ask," Elizabeta angrily stared at him until he chuckled, "why are you laughing?"

"Because I was expecting you to ask me who I was with when mines started," he brushed away a small tear and shot her a smile.

"Who were you with?"

"Just some idiotic American who if my family hadn't had intervened, would be in prison right now," he answered and stared off into space. "I suppose it's the same story as yours?"

"A little bit, he tried to get me home but my mother took a long time to answer the door. I guess... did you kiss that Alpha," she touched her lips as the memory flooded back.

"Yes, but things... Why am I even talking about this?"

"Because you asked me first." Elizabeta smirked at him and saw a small blush cross his face, judging by the heat in her cheeks she was blushing as well.

"Well that would be a valid reason, it's actually nice having someone to talk to. Every other Omega I have met is so vapid and uninteresting they just annoy me."

"Yep, same here."

This time they fell into a comfortable silence until the door opened beside them and out fell a shouting Gilbert and an even angrier Mr. Beilschmidt.

"I'm going home and I told you before it wasn't my fault! I tried to get her home but her Mutti didn't answer the door quickly!" Gilbert yelled at the older Alpha, his face pure red in anger.

"Gilbert get back into this office now!" the principal snapped at his grandson seemingly forgetting about the other students who were watching the fight in shock.

"No Gramps, I'm not going in there just to listen to you tell me off. I did nothing wrong!" Gilbert yelled, his voice breaking slightly in the middle. Turning he started marching down the hallway.

"Gilbert, if you don't come back now that's it. Ludwig will take your place in line to be head Alpha and you will be sent to military school," the older growled.

Gilbert froze in his spot and bunched his fists together. That title meant more to him than nearly everything else. Spinning he glared at his grandfather but stopped when he saw the Omegas staring at them. With a huff he walked straight passed his grandfather and back into the office. A little more content Gilhart looked down to his side and blanched at seeing the two Omegas staring up at him.

"Mr. Beilschmidt," Elizabeta started, suddenly overcome with submissiveness. "It wasn't Gilbert's fault, he saw I was acting weird and then he tried to get me back home on time; he really did. He even mixed up my ice cream to see if I would notice and when I didn't he pretty much tried to race me home but I..." her pleas faded when she reached the part she tried to forget.

"Elizabeta, that is not the issue. He should have called your parents to tell them what was happening," Gilhart tried to explain but was abruptly cut off by Elizabeta.

"How could he? They never answer their phones and if it wasn't for him I wouldn't have gotten home," tears started forming in her eyes as she begged for the Alpha to be more lenient on Gilbert.

"Fine," he sighed and stepped back a little. "I will consider that." With that he went back into the office shutting the door behind him.

"Well... that was interesting," Arthur commented after a few minutes passed.

Elizabeta sadly hummed a yes in agreement.

"So why do you want to keep him out of trouble?" Arthur asked.

"He's my best friend and if it wasn't for him I would probably be alone."

"I see..." Arthur said in contemplation. "Well hopefully things will work out." He sent her the first genuine smile she saw him make all day and brightened at it.

"Yeah... I don't want him to go to military school, he needs to stay here."

More time passed and between listening to any snippets they could hear from the office they made idle conversation about their past. Elizabeta learnt that Arthur was from a very wealthy English family that runs a publishing company. She also learnt that the Alpha he was with was sent back to America and banned from crossing the Atlantic until he was sixteen, but that didn't stop Arthur from contacting him. Soon the door to the office opened once again and a sullen Gilbert walked out. Without glancing back at the Omegas he walked back to his class. Before he left their sight a disgruntled Mr. Beilschmidt called the Omegas into the office for what Elizabeta feared was going to be her worst punishment yet.

As he continued to tell them off for their behaviour and giving them a month's worth of detention Elizabeta couldn't keep her mind focused on what was happening. She could only think of what was said to Gilbert to make him act like that. It was honestly one of the most worrying things she ever had to think about.


	6. Friends and forced honesty

"Hey," Elizabeta called to Francis and Antonio when both she and Arthur found them in the canteen later on that day during lunch. "What happened to Gilbert? He looked really depressed when he left the principal's office, he didn't even say anything to us."

Turning their attention away from the hushed conversation they were having they looked at her then swapped a concerned look.

"We were hoping you could tell us," Francis answered with a sigh, "he came back to class and refused to talk. He just paid attention to the teachers since then."

"Sí, he didn't even laugh when I tripped Francis," Antonio added.

"Really?" Elizabeta gasped in shock, that was very strange for Gilbert but it only brought more attention to what else was amiss, "Where is he now?"

Francis and Antonio shrugged and cast their gazes over the canteen. Normally Gilbert would be easy to pick out; along with his snow white hair and insanely loud personality he was very hard to miss in a crowd.

"Yet another thing we were hoping you could answer," Francis said quietly.

"All we know is that he got into a fight with the principal and then just left after..." Elizabeta mumbled.

"We?" Antonio cocked an eyebrow at the word and shifted to see Arthur standing awkwardly behind Elizabeta. "You're that guy from earlier! What are you doing with Liz?"

Francis immediately stared at Arthur, keeping eye contact he stood up and sauntered over to the Omega.

"Oh yeah," Elizabeta perked up, "Arthur here is in my Omega classes, he's not that bad when you actually talk to him."

"Really now? So that's why he smelt off," Antonio commented thoughtfully.

"I do not smell off!" Arthur snapped and took a step forward, fully intending to start a fight if he had to.

"Ah but mon ami, you wear so much cologne it masks your natural scent," Francis purred dangerously. Standing up he sauntered over to the Omega and sniffed at his hair. Arthur froze in his spot unable to react to the Alpha.

"Th-that's the point and back off frog!" he screeched and pushed Francis back, causing the Frenchman to tumble backwards into Antonio.

Francis chuckled at his reaction but it didn't stop him winking at the Omega who bristled under the attention. Slowly backing away from Francis Arthur shot Elizabeta a concerned look but was appalled to see the girl giggle at him.

"Relax Arthur he'll flirt with anything with legs," she explained, a smirk still playing on her lips.

"How dare you Elizabeta! I will not," Francis countered and feigned offence but the grin that be barely concealed gave him away.

"Really now?" she challenged and crossed her arms.

"Oui, I will not flirt with anyone too young, anyone who is already involved with one of my friends or anyone else," he explained with an air of dignity only he could attain when talking about anything on that subject.

"Right, so the time you flirted with that girl who loves fish. That doesn't count, does it?" Elizabeta challenged and took a step closer to tower over the Alpha.

"I was not flirting with Chelle," Francis argued and stood up to glare at her, "she is my cousin and I was just chasing away some Alphas who were annoying her."

Elizabeta froze and stared up at the Frenchman.

"You have a cousin?" she asked in complete shock, she could see Antonio nodding his head and smiling like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oui and thanks to me she's not being bullied anymore," Francis sighed and turned away from them. After taking a few steps away he stopped and looked over his shoulder, "So shall we get food today or starve to death? I don't think Gil is going to meet up with us."

"Yeah... sorry about that Francis," Elizabeta mumbled and slowly followed him along with Antonio and Arthur.

"It's okay," he smiled back at her, "but next time think about who you are talking to. After all it's Antonio who chases Omegas who are too young." He shot his friend an evil smirk and was quickly met with a heavy bag to the back of his head and a lot of swearing in Spanish. Chuckling under his breath and rubbing the back of his head, he quickened his pace to match the Spaniard.

"That was... interesting," Arthur commented to Elizabeta when they fell into step a short distance behind the Alphas.

"Yeah, well that's how they normally are," Elizabeta replied and smiled at her new friend.

"So umm... what did he mean when he said that about that Antonio fellow?"

"Oh, it's nothing. Antonio is just good friends with an Omega a few years younger than us. Francis likes to make fun of him for it, but I doubt anything will happen," Elizabeta said after a few seconds of consideration.

"Why not?" Arthur quirked an eyebrow at her.

"Because Lovino is kind of a jackass and is always insulting Antonio," Elizabeta laughed, "It's really funny to watch. Antonio just chats him up and all he receives are tomatoes to his face or anything else sitting around combined with a string of insults."

"Antonio sounds like a masochist," Arthur thought aloud and was amazed when Elizabeta agreed.

~o~o~o~o~o~

When they made it to the cafeteria and bought their food they stood near the door trying to find a place to sit when they noticed a head of white hair sitting at their normal table. Grinning to each other they quickly made their way through the tables and took their respective seats, Arthur choosing to sit beside Elizabeta despite Francis's insistence he sit next to him.

"I was wondering where you guys where," Gilbert commented with a grin when they finally settled.

"We could have said the same about you mon ami," Francis replied and started picking apart his food, he was not satisfied with the cafeteria's quiche, the only thing he was glad of was the fact that his school's food was better than most.

"Sí, we were worried about you, you weren't yourself in class," Antonio added.

"I... just..." Gilbert was struggling to find his words when he spotted Arthur beside Elizabeta. "Hey how'd the rest of class go Arthur? Was it hard putting up with Liz?" he quickly changed the subject and smiled widely at the Brit.

"It was..." Arthur was cut off by a yelp from Gilbert when Elizabeta slapped him across the head.

"Hey what was that for?" Gilbert snapped and glared angrily at her.

"What happened in that meeting?" she demanded and stared straight back at him, her anger palpable.

"I got shouted at for getting into trouble, that's all," Gilbert retorted and started shoveling his food into his mouth.

"No there's more," Antonio spoke up and fixed the albino with a stare, "tell us what happened."

Gilbert gulped audibly, it was rare when Antonio got serious about something and the last time he did Gilbert ended up with a broken leg.

"Fine," he sighed, "Gramps is gonna take away my title as next in line after father if I don't start behaving. I messed up badly last week and now everything might have been ruined," he ran off exasperated that his friends had forced it out of him.

"Gil..." Elizabeta started but was stopped by Gilbert.

"No, I don't want to hear anything I'm going to fix this and I don't need help," at this he stood up, gathered his tray and left.

That was the last they saw of him for that lunch. Deciding against trying to find the hot headed Alpha they spent the time asking Arthur about himself and trying to include the Brit into their normal life. After lunch they broke off to go to their own classes, Elizabeta and Arthur going to their Omega classes and the other two going to their Alpha classes.

~o~o~o~o~o~

When Antonio got to their class they found Gilbert with his nose buried in a book and making a point of ignoring them. Sharing a knowing look they took their seats on either side of him.

Antonio was the first to try and break the heavy atmosphere that fell over the three of them by poking Gilbert with a pencil. The German ignored him. Taking his turn, Francis drew a picture of Gilbert kissing Francis' and Antonio's shoes and placed it in front of his friend. Still nothing. Glancing around they noticed the teacher still hadn't showed up to class and there was still another five minutes before he would show up. Grinning mischievously at each other, they got up and Antonio stood behind Gilbert while Francis stood in front. At this Gilbert shifted his attention to them briefly before turning it back to the book. Without warning Francis pulled the book from Gilbert's hands and Antonio got him in a full nelson. Gilbert shouted and struggled against his friend but it was no good, the Spanish Alpha had him held tight.

"What do you want?" he finally gritted out when he found no other choice.

"We want to know exactly what happened mon ami, you know bottling things up is not good," Francis told him and leant down on the table in front of him.

"I told you what happened," Gilbert shot back but Antonio tightened his grip causing Gilbert to growl in pain.

"Non, you did not," Francis answered calmly and looked Gilbert dead in the eye, "What started this? You have been acting strange since last week. We weren't going to do anything but now we're worried."

Gilbert remained silent but Antonio pulled him to the side, twisting him in a way that caused him to shout in agony.

"FINE! Fine I'll tell you!" he cried when he finally couldn't take anymore.

"Good, now if you lie we'll do a lot worse," Francis grinned but an evil glint in his eyes gave away his true intentions.

"Okay, but can you let me go first?" Gilbert tried to bargain and get his friends to back off, the hold was starting to really strain his neck.

"No," Antonio answered simply.

"... okay then and ja this started last week when I..." he was cut off by a shout from the teacher for everyone to get back to their seats.

Sighing Antonio reluctantly let Gilbert go and sat down while Francis took his seat as well.

"You're telling us after school," Francis warned Gilbert with a look that told him death would be easier to escape. Once again Gilbert gulped but nodded and accepted his fate.

~o~o~o~o~o~

After school they walked Elizabeta home after waving Arthur farewell when he got a car home. The walk back was silent aside from a few comments about the day, mostly Francis inquiring about Arthur. When they dropped Elizabeta off at her home the atmosphere instantly became icy and hostile. Gilbert was dreading when they got to his house. He knew he couldn't get rid of the boys until he came clean or face the consequences.

At his house they quickly found their way to Gilbert's room and Gilbert locked the door after him. Turning around he saw Francis sprawling out on his bed and Antonio playing with Gilbird on the windowsill. Both had their attention on Gilbert making the albino feel like he was a freak of nature.

"Want to start telling us what happened?" Antonio offered and giggled when Gilbird tugged slightly on his hair before flying off to rest on Gilbert's shoulder.

Gilbert ignored the bird and stared at the deep blue carpet.

"Okay," he started, "well... I might or might not be unawesome enough to already have an arranged marriage." His friends instantly perked up and stared at him in shock.

"Who with?" Francis asked before he could stop himself.

"Liz." The name hung in the air like a thick fog as both Antonio and Francis tried to absorb the information. Sighing at how his friends were unable to even react, Gilbert continued to explain everything that had happened. When he was finished Francis and Antonio stared at him in a state of shock. A few minutes passed before either were brave enough to speak.

"So... does Elizabeta know? Antonio coughed, his cheeks red in either embarrassment or shame.

"No and I don't want her to find out until everything is sorted, even her parents want to finalise things first because they know she'll run away if she even thinks I'm trying to..." his voice trailed off when he recalled his last conversation with her parents. He had promised to try and convince Elizabeta to try and behave like a normal Omega.

"Mon ami, you can't do that. If you do then she will not be the Elizabeta we all know and I am guessing you love," Francis piped up.

Gilbert turned a bright shade of red at the mention of love, "I'm too awesome to love her and I was hoping to try and trick her parents into thinking she changed. I don't want her to change," he shot at him.

"Then why are you trying so hard?" Francis asked.

The simple question hit Gilbert like a bullet and he let his eyes fall to the carpet again.

"Sí, if you don't love her then why are you so worried about this?" Antonio added.

"I don't know," Gilbert mumbled then scrunched his hands into his hair, "I just don't know, I'm too awesome for all of this."

Francis and Antonio shared a look before getting up to pull their friend into a group hug.

"Gilbert, if you like her it's okay," Francis said in a quiet voice when he noticed Gilbert trembling slightly.

"Sí... and well we kind of already knew. You're not very good at hiding it," Antonio said with a small smile.

It was then Gilbert finally let the tears he never realised were forming flow and wrapped his arms around his friends shoulders. They remained there until Gilbert had finally calmed down and pulled away to throw himself face down onto his bed.

"This is so unawesome, I've just ruined everything," he mumbled into his pillow.

"Non, if anything you made it so much easier," Francis smiled softly and sat on the side of the bed.

"How? What if she doesn't like me? What if I can't convince her to like me? What if I'm not awesome enough for her?" Gilbert asked his voice raising in volume the more panicked he became.

"It will be alright because we're here for you," Antonio soothed and sat on the other side of the bed.

Gilbert looked between his friends in shock and confusion.

"So you don't think she'll reject me?"

"She might, but we'll just have to make sure she won't," Antonio smiled at him and Francis nodded in confirmation.

"Yeah... of course she won't I'm too awesome to reject," Gilbert said regaining some of his confidence and starting to smile. But the smile was quickly wiped away by Francis.

"First we need to change a few things about you," he interjected and stared at the albino, his eyes hard and unforgiving.

"Like what? I'm already awesome," Gilbert said.

"Oui but not in the eyes of a certain Omega, now first we need to get you new clothes," Francis told him and cast an eye over Gilbert's clothes. He was wearing an old pair of worn jeans, a t shirt with a hole in one of the sleeves from an earlier fight and his jacket was missing a few outer buttons and the zip just barely stayed on. To say he looked scruffy was an understatement.

"What's wrong with my clothes?" Gilbert asked and pulled at his t shirt to examine it a bit.

"You look like a hobo," Antonio answered with a laugh, he had waited years to tell Gilbert that.

"I don't, I just like my clothes!" Gilbert snapped.

"Oui of course you do, okay first thing tomorrow we are taking you shopping," Francis teased and stood up, his face lighting up at the thought of making Gilbert go shopping.

Gilbert paled at the thought of spending his Saturday trudging through shops, we wanted to practice guitar and play Playstation.

"No excuses," Francis added and made his way to the door unlocking it and leaving with a small wave.

"Sí, we'll be here at ten sharp so you better be ready or we'll throw water on you to wake you up," Antonio said and quickly left after Francis. Gilbert remained on his bed with his jaw hanging open in complete shock. He did not want to go shopping with them, Antonio wasn't that bad but Francis was like an Omega and took hours going through every shop, comparing everything. To Gilbert it was a type of hell.

* * *


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _One explanation for this chapter and fic in general in regards to people's parents. The mother is always the one who gave birth to the child. So if a male Omega has children he becomes the mother and the other parent is the father. The reverse is true for female Alphas, they become the father if they don't give birth to the child._
> 
>  
> 
> _As for Betas, they follow normal human rules, only women can give birth and only men can be the fathers. But if two male Betas adopt then they are both fathers to that child, if two female Betas adopt or get together when one already has a child they are the child's mothers. Either way the mother is always a woman and the father is always male with Betas unless they bond with an Omega or Alpha. A female Beta and female Alpha can have children and the Alpha becomes the father. A male Omega and a female Beta can also have children but the Omega becomes the father. Regardless a female Beta can't be the father and a male Beta can't be a mother._
> 
>  
> 
> _Okay this is getting convoluted so I'm gonna stop here, I'll explain the rest as the story progresses._
> 
> * * *

Gilbert woke up the next morning to shuffling in his room and hushed whispers. Prying his eyes open he saw Francis beside his wardrobe, Antonio helping him fill a black plastic bag. Blinking a few times he stared up at the ceiling. He did not just see that? Did he? Then he suddenly remembered about their warning the day before, sitting bolt upright and checking the time his jaw fell slack when he saw that it was ten thirty.

"Ah amigo, you're awake," Antonio greeted him with a smile and heaved the bag over his shoulder, he called a cheery good morning as he raced out the door.

"Wh-what are you guys doing?" Gilbert stammered and threw himself out of his bed and looked around. Every bit of clothing that once was in the wardrobe was gone, his chest of drawers were emptied and only one pair of jeans, a t shirt, a shirt and a jacket was left in the room. All of which he didn't own. The only thing that he did own was his trusty pair of battered Converse.

"We told you to be up," Francis commented and moved over to the window to grin at the sight outside.

It was then Gilbert noticed something that struck fear in his heart. Thick black smoke billowed from the back garden. Not wasting any time he bolted out of the house and stood on the back porch watching Antonio laughing like a maniac as he threw the bag he just brought down into a pile of what Gilbert assumed was his clothes, all engulfed in fierce flames in the emptied swimming pool.

"Gilbert, I thought you would have put something on before coming outside. It is going to snow later," Antonio called to him when he noticed his friend in a state of utter shock.

"You bastards!" Gilbert roared at them and fled back upstairs when he realised he had ran outside in only his pale blue boxers .

Back in his room he glared at Francis who stood leaning against the windowsill, a smug grin playing on his lips.

"How fucking dare you burn all my clothes," Gilbert growled at the Frenchman.

"Ah, but you were warned to be awake and ready to go at ten, it is now after ten thirty so we found a new way to convince you to go shopping," he replied, mirth playing on every word. "Now hurry up and get dressed we are late."

Gilbert glowered at his friend but moved across his room to where new clothes were laying on the bottom of his bed. Picking up the jeans and shirt he looked over them carefully then back to Francis.

"Ah yes, we went out after leaving here to find you something better," Francis told him seeing the confusion on Gilbert's face.

Grumbling angrily Gilbert pulled on the clothes and marvelled at how well they fit him. Looking himself up and down in the mirror he couldn't help but admit the new clothes did look better and they did suit him better than his old ones. The dark, almost black jeans perfectly matched the black printed t shirt and dull emerald shirt all set off by a black leather bikers jacket. He even had to marvel how his old beat up red Converse matched. He hated that his friends knew what looked good on him.

"So you approve?" Francis purred and sidled up behind him, smiling like the Cheshire cat.

"No," Gilbert answered quickly and forced the slight smile that he wore to disappear. "Why did you burn all my clothes?" he asked his friend, his rage now returning completely as he turned and cracked his knuckles preparing to hit Francis.

"Wait, you said you wanted our help to win over our lovely Elizabeta! We only did that to stop you going back to your shabby old look. This way Elizabeta has to notice your charms," at this Francis leaned over his shoulder and made a kissy face as he very quickly moved his hand to Gilbert's cheeks to squeeze his cheeks together.

Gilbert turned a bright shade of red and slapped his friend's hand away and jumped out of Francis' reach.

"Gott, could you get any creepier?" he snapped at the Frenchman.

Francis shrugged and his smile grew even larger but as he was about to answer Antonio burst through the door with a loud laugh.

"Hey we need to go now!" he almost sang and pulled Francis and Gilbert out the door after him. "We can't be late!"

As they were running out the front door Gilbert heard his father shouting from the back garden. Picking up speed, they fled the mansion and soon found themselves outside the nearest mall panting for breath and bursting into random bouts of laughter. Straightening up Gilbert looked around and analysed his surroundings. The mall was relatively deserted considering it was near the start of January and the sales were in full swing. Sauntering over to the fountain in the centre of the huge open building, he plopped himself down on the bench and grinned at his friends who soon followed.

"I suppose I have no choice but to ask where we are going first," he asked with a slight sigh. He looked at his friends and was surprised to see they weren't paying attention to him. "Hey where are we going? You guys dragged me all the way here, got me in a tonne of trouble and burnt all my clothes," they continued to ignore him and scan the crowd. "Stop ignoring the awesome..." he was suddenly cut off by Francis jumping up with a smile and running off into the crowd, Antonio close behind. Gilbert stared flabbergasted his friends had just ditched him after ignoring him. Crossing his arms he mumbled angrily under his breath and stood to follow them but soon discovered they had returned, two Betas Gilbert recognised from school trailing behind them.

"Like, OMG guys, what the hell took you?" The blond wearing a loose cream cardigan over a shimmery blue top said when Gilbert finally joined them. "We were totes about to leave we were waiting so long. Right Toris?" He turned to the light brown haired boy with bright blue eyes beside him and stared up at the slightly taller boy with his green eyes.

"Feliks we only got here," the other boy said and looked up at the trio and quickly apologised for his friend, "we were actually running late because Feliks had to fix his hair."

"Like, it's my hair. How could I not fix it when it was out of place?" Feliks flicked his shoulder length hair out of his face and turned to look at the trio. "So who like, needs my help?"

Francis and Antonio instantly pushed Gilbert forward and shared a smirk as Feliks tutted and looked over their friend.

"I guess I could work with this... like, can I dye your hair?" he asked and looked up at the Frenchman expectantly.

"Woah you are not dying my hair!" Gilbert shrieked and jumped back from them, his hands clasped to his head in shock.

"Non, I do not think that will work, mon ami," Francis chuckled and stepped between the two. "We just need your expertise to make him look fantastique."

"Sí, he needs help... uh impressing a certain Omega," Antonio added with a bright smile.

"AH! Are you like, joking now? Please tell me you're not joking. You'll totes break my heart," Feliks squealed and started jumping up and down like a teenage girl. "OMG you need to tell me who it is."

Francis and Antonio couldn't keep the grins off their faces as they watched the excited Beta jump around ecstatically. Gilbert on the other hand, he was slowly walking up to his best friends, his hands creeping up to reach their necks and a murderous look set in his eyes. However before he could grab them they were pulled into a hug by Feliks who was promising them a miracle if they told him who the Omega was. Luckily for Gilbert they refused.

"No mi amigo, sorry but we can't tell you just yet," Antonio filled him in.

"But how am I supposed to know how to like, make him look better for that Omega?" Feliks whined at them.

"Um Feliks maybe they'll tell you if you do a good job?" Toris offered and reached his hand to sit on his friend's shoulder.

"Do you like, really think that?" Feliks asked.

"Of course we will," Francis interjected before Toris could answer. "So can we get started?"

Feliks nodded fervently. "Like, that will totally work. Come on, I know so many adorb shops you'll just love." With that he grabbed Gilbert's hand and dragged the poor Alpha towards a shop Gilbert knew held all manners of hell he was not prepared for. The rest followed after the reluctant Alpha and over excited Beta.

A few hours later and countless shops and shopping bags Gilbert was exhausted, hungry, sore, but most of all incredibly angry. He leant against a wall as his friends continued talking about what he should wear as if he wasn't there. That, he found had annoyed him more than being forced into clothes that he didn't like, that didn't fit or were just downright ugly. Dropping the bags he held to the floor he slumped against the wall until gravity made him join them. He leant his arms on his knees and let his head fall into the gap. He really just wanted the day to end so he could go home to his bed, or even play a little guitar. He was, for the first time ever too tired to play Playstation. However he couldn't or at least he was afraid to. This entire shopping trip had been paid for using his father's credit card, to make matters worse Feliks and Francis had dragged them to as many designer outlets as they could find. Between the mess his friends created that morning and him spending thousands on new clothes, he had an inkling he was in for hell. A few more minutes passed and he suddenly realised his friends had fallen silent and hadn't dragged him into another shop. Raising his head he gasped to see they had disappeared. Pulling his phone out of his jacket pocket he unlocked it and swore at the screen. He had received a text from Antonio telling him they were eating at McDonalds. To add insult to injury it was sent over ten minutes ago. Running a hand over his face he scrambled to his feet and grabbed the bags beside him before racing off towards the shopping centre's only McDonalds. He was going to kill his friends when he got hold of them.

When he finally spotted Francis and Antonio he prepared to give them hell but stopped in his tracks to see that they, along with Feliks and Toris talking to another Beta they knew, Basch Zwingli. Stopping in his tracks he watched them for a minute. He was about to stomp over and ruin their little meeting when he overheard Basch asking about where he was. Freezing in his tracks he hid behind a pillar fully expecting them to praise his awesome self. To his utter horror that did not happen.

"That like, total big headed loser? He's like, sleeping somewhere," Feliks spat and took a sip from his drink.

"Feliks he's not that bad," Toris tried to reason, but his friend waved him off.

"Like, no he's so totally ungrateful! Like, Basch listen to this alright. I like, totes dedicated my Saturday to helping him finally look better like the totes amazeballs person that I am and that Alpha doesn't even appreciate it! He just like, bitches and complains about shopping with me! Me, like, of all people he could have the  amazing privilege of shopping with, he gives out about shopping with me!" Feliks explained to the other Beta as dramatically as he could.

Francis and Antonio shared an uncomfortable look and shifted their seats back to get up.

"Nous sommes désolé," Francis said quickly as they stood up.

"Like, where are you guys going?" Feliks asked shocked that they had even considered moving while he was talking.

"We just noticed the time and we promised my parents that we would be at a dinner tonight," Antonio filled them in with a friendly smile. "Gilbert has to attend as well so we have to find him and then go back."

"Oui, we're very sorry but it's urgent," Francis agreed and wore the same smile Antonio had.

"OMG that's so not fair. But like, make sure Gilbert wears that striped grey shirt and black trousers." Feliks told them before turning back to Basch and essentially cutting them out of their conversation.

Holding their smiles as best as they could, they left the table and where soon met by a fuming Gilbert.

"So," he started and fixed them with a glare, "want to tell me what you guys were talking about?"

The two shuffled on their feet and shared awkward glances at each other before Francis found the courage to speak up.

"Well, Feliks and Toris invited Basch over to talk and they were discussing how unfair it was that Betas had to do all the hard work while Alphas got to..." Antonio trailed odd at seeing the anger in Gilbert's eyes. He sighed before continuing. "Feliks started calling you a loser and complaining so we decided to leave then. We didn't say anything bad about you, we promise."

Gilbert raised an eyebrow at them and Francis nodded fervently in agreement with Antonio.

"Fine, I believe you now can we get out of here?" he asked exasperated they had even spent that long in the mall.

"Oui, I was just about to suggest that anyway," Francis agreed and smiled at his friend who started leading the way out.

An hour later they found themselves in Antonio's room playing Xbox. It was only when Antonio's Omega mother, a short brunette man with hazel eyes knocked on the door did they realise the time. After they waved bye, Gilbert started slowly making his way back to his home. Every few steps he would stop to contemplate running away but then as always he soon found himself at his front door. Taking a deep breath he pushed the black door open and to his utter horror was met by his grandfather. Gilhart stared him down with his steel blue eyes then motioned for the boy to enter. Gulping Gilbert obliged and followed the older Alpha into the living room where he found his father waiting beside the large black marble fireplace, a fire blazing happily lighting the room in a soft flickering orange. His father stared into the flames and swirled the amber contents of his glass ignoring his son's presence. Eventually he took a seat in a tall deep wine armchair and set his gaze on Gilbert, he eyed the bags suspiciously but to Gilbert's relief didn't ask anything. Gilhart sat on the identical armchair on the other side of the fireplace and waited until Gilbert sat on the couch facing the fireplace.

"Where were you all day?" his father said when he took his seat and placed the bags on the floor beside him.

"Francis and Antonio dragged me out shopping," Gilbert mumbled in reply and tried, but failed to look his father in the eye.

"Why?"

Gilbert shot a look to his grandfather who remained silently watching the conversation and sending the occasional glance towards the door.

"Because they..." the rest of his explanation was lost in a mumbled mess and his father demanded he speak clearly. "They thought my normal clothes weren't awesome enough and they dragged me out to get "appropriate" stuff."

His father remained silent and Gilbert knew he was waiting for him to continue. After all, his friends had stolen his father's credit card and who wouldn't be mad to find out their card had been stolen.

Swallowing he continued talking. "They thought that I couldn't impress," his voice faltered momentarily but he forced himself to push on, "Liz, so they took me out shopping to help out."

For a long minute silence fell over the Alphas and Gilbert stared at the ground.

"Why would they want to help you impress her?" This time it was Gilhart who spoke, confusion and shock evident in his voice.

"I told them about the arranged marriage," Gilbert finally plucked up the courage to look at his father and almost gasped to see a slight smile on the man's face.

"So I'm assuming they took you out shopping for clothes," he pondered aloud and made eye contact with his son. Gilbert nodded dumbly. "Good, I'm glad to see I could trust them to stick to their word."

"What?" Gilbert gasped and jumped to his feet, "you're not mad at me? They spent a lot of money today! Wait what do you mean they stuck to their word?"

"I found them trying to sneak into your room this morning and they explained everything, so I gave them my credit card if they swore they could make you go shopping." He explained simply, a smug grin set on his face and he intertwined his fingers together on his lap. "However I did not expect them to set your old clothes on fire, but I have arranged with their parents to make them come over tomorrow to clean."

Gilbert stared at his father, completely thrown at how light-hearted the conversation had suddenly become.

"So you're really not mad?" he asked again, unable to comprehend what was happening.

"No, you're finally taking at least one thing seriously even if you need a little push."

Gilbert stared blankly at the Alpha and fell back onto the couch. This was the first time he was ever let off anything since before his mother died. It almost made him want to cry in sheer relief, but he was too awesome for that so he wouldn't.

"Does this mean I can go?" he asked hesitantly, very uncertain about what to do.

Both his father and grandfather nodded, as soon as he got the all clear he shot up from the couch and bolted out the door. Within a minute he was back and grabbed the bags he left then made his way up to his room. Today was a very strange day for Gilbert.

The next morning Antonio and Francis arrived at his house, both of which looked very tired and Francis has large bags under his eyes. As they set about cleaning the mess they had made the day before, Gilbert lounged about eating popcorn that he occasionally threw some at them. Fortunately for him, this made their ordeal so much more entertaining. Unfortunately for them, it caused the Beilschmidt's dogs to go into frenzies that Gilbert refused to help with.


	8. Chapter 8

The following Monday was more than a bit awkward as Gilbert made his way through the hallways. Everyone noted his new appearance and some even had the gall to stare at him. He wasn't even wearing anything unusual, just a pair of crisp dark grey jeans tucked into black military boots, a white shirt over a Rammstein t shirt topped off with a dark grey leather jacket. He quickly scared them away with a snarl or a threat. If anything, the only odd part was the lack of tears in his clothing and shabbiness that shocked everyone. However, none of that compared to the anxiety that fixated him when he thought of Elizabeta. He had gone through all that trouble just to hopefully impress her, but knowing her the way he did. There was a very good chance she would laugh at him. That was the last thing he needed. When he got to his locker he swung the door open and neatly arranged the papers so he could find what he needed. Despite his attitude and general disregard for anything set in stone, Gilbert was a perfectionist and a neat freak. It was the one trait he had inherited from his father's side that he found annoying. He just couldn't let something be out of place without correcting it. Then it happened, he felt a small tap on his shoulder. Turning he raised a brow to see Elizabeta staring wide eyed at him, a hand clasped over her mouth.

"I didn't think it was really you," she said in a small voice. Her eyes trailed up and down him making the young Alpha blush at the attention.

"Ja, well Antonio and Francis dragged me shopping on Saturday," Gilbert explained with a wave of his hand then went back to sorting out what he needed for the morning in an attempt to hide his building blush.

Elizabeta stared wordlessly at his back until a loud shout broke her out of her trance. Spinning on her heel she turned to see Feliks skipping down the hall to greet her.

"Like, good morning Eliza," he said cheerfully and pulled the brunette into a hug.

"Morning Feliks," she replied with a bright smile.

"Oh, like, hi Gilbert. So Eliza what do you think of his new look?" Feliks added in halfheartedly but beamed proudly at the last part.

Gilbert grumbled a response and didn't bother turning around, he still did not like what the Beta had said about him.

"I like it!" Elizabeta said after a prolonged pause. Gilbert spun to stare at her, his mouth hanging open.

"Seriously?" the word slipped out in a choked gasp before he could restrain himself.

"Hmm, yeah. It looks much better and you don't look like a hobo anymore," she answered chirpily.

Gilbert sighed, he was getting annoyed at how much he was being told he used to look like a hobo.

"So... I like totes did a good job," Feliks interjected and jumped in between them to take all the attention onto himself.

"Wait, you did this?" Elizabeta gasped and continued staring at Gilbert who suddenly found the ceiling very interesting.

"Course, who else could have like, been that good? He looked like a hobo before."

"Thanks!" Gilbert snapped and pushed past the Beta, "it's so nice to know what everyone thinks of the awesome me!" With that he slammed shut the locker and stomped down the corridor. Elizabeta and Feliks staring at his retreating back.

"Like, what's his problem?" Feliks said.

"I don't know," was all that Elizabeta could say before she gave chase after him, leaving Feliks to wonder what happened.

Despite being a fast runner she couldn't catch up with the albino and the bell went before she could ask where his class was. Giving up she sighed and raced off to her class. Swinging around a corner she smiled and called to the familiar Omega also running to class just a little in front of her.

"Arthur!"

He stopped and smiled back at her then fell into step beside her as they quickly made their way to class.

"How was your weekend?" he asked.

"Good, my horse had a foal so it was pretty eventful," she answered and steered him around another corner.

"You have a horse?"

"Yeah, well my father raises horses. One of them just seems to like me the most so I claimed her as mine."

"Can you do that? I didn't know Omegas were allowed to own horses."

"Not normally, but Crystal doesn't let anyone else near her," she answered happily, "oh Crystal is my horse."

Arthur nodded in acknowledgement and pulled open the classroom door. Leading the way in Elizabeta took her seat on her normal beanbag and they continued their conversation until their teacher arrived and they had to pay attention.

 

_Meanwhile with Gilbert  
_

Gilbert was now racing through the halls, he knew Elizabeta was following close behind but for some reason he couldn't face her. This was so unawesome of him and it was not something he wanted to confront any time soon. Swinging himself around a final corner he found himself at his class, without wasting a breath he threw himself through the door and into his chair. He spent the next few minutes staring into space until Antonio and Francis took their seats beside him. Both looked haggard as he turned his attention to them.

"Morning," he muttered to them and pulled out his books for the class.

They groaned in response, still clearly not over the previous day of cleaning.

"So have you seen your beloved fiancé today?" Francis eventually asked after a lengthened silence.

Gilbert nodded curtly and focused on the book in front of him.

"Amigo, stop being so pissy about this. Since her heat you have been avoiding everyone," Antonio urged and pulled the book from his friend's grip.

"Fine!" he snapped at the Spaniard, "ja, I saw her this morning."

His friends stared at him in shock before Antonio plucked up the courage to talk.

"So, did she notice your new look?"

"Ja."

"And?" Antonio and Francis edged closer to him.

"I don't know, she didn't laugh... she kinda looked surprised," Gilbert said with a sigh.

"Magnifique!" Francis exclaimed and suddenly regained all of his energy. "That is a good sign mon ami, there may be hope for you yet!"

"Hey, what do you mean by that?" his question fell on deaf ears as his friends launched themselves into a conversation until the teacher came in and forced them into silence. For once Gilbert was glad to see a teacher and start lessons.

Later that day they met up with the Omegas for lunch and took their usual seats. Gilbert remaining quiet the entire time.

"Gilbert, what's with the new clothes?" Elizabeta asked when she sat down beside him.

Gilbert immediately froze and gawked at her, trying to find an answer. However before he could say anything Francis interjected and answered for him.

"He is trying to impress an Omega he likes," his eyes sparkled in wonder at the albino who stared back at him in horror.

"Really? Who?" Elizabeta asked, her face mirroring a mixture of shock and curiosity.

"I wish I could tell you ma belle, but our dear friend has sworn me to secrecy," Francis sighed dramatically.

"Ja and if he tells I will kill him," Gilbert fixed him with a firm glare but Francis only smiled back.

"Can you at least tell me something about this Omega?" Elizabeta begged, her eyes were alight in curiosity but her voice wavered as she spoke.

"Nein."

"Then how about when you two met?" she edged closer to him and clasped her hands together in a praying motion.

Gilbert watched her for a moment before answering. "Years ago and that's all I'm going to say."

With that the conversation ended and they fell into silence

"So Arthur..." Francis started and looked up to catch the emerald eyed Omega's gaze. "How do you find school here?"

Although the question itself was innocent enough, the glint in Francis' eyes told Arthur otherwise and the Omega immediately began blushing furiously and stammering his answer.

"It... it's good, the classes are boring bu.. but. What in the bloody hell are you laughing about?" he snapped when he saw the Alpha sniggering behind his hand.

"Ah but mon petit lapin, you are tres cute when you blush," Francis replied in a husky whisper.

Arthur immediately slammed his hands on the table and stood up.

"I swear if you don't bugger off right now frog I will slap you!" he warned in a low growl, his previous blush replaced by an angry glow in his eyes.

"How can I when you look so delectab..." his sentence was cut off by a loud slap to his face and Arthur plopped himself back onto his seat and continued eating. Around him, Elizabeta, Antonio and Gilbert burst into laughter as Francis cradled his face in shock. Never in his life had he actually been slapped by an Omega, they normally giggled and loved the attention he gave them. No Arthur was different. Now, by judging the high fives his friends were giving Arthur, the Omega was officially part of their gang. Not that Francis minded though, he had to restrain himself from smirking he always did prefer a challenge and the thirteen year old Alpha was already finding Omegas boring. Maybe Arthur could make things a lot more interesting?

* * *


	9. Chapter 9

"Who do you think it is?" Elizabeta asked for the millionth time that day.

"For the last time how am I supposed to know?" Arthur sighed in exasperation, "does it look like I stalk the guy?"

Arthur was getting annoyed at the girl now. It had been two weeks since Gilbert had revealed he was interested in an Omega and since then neither of them had a clue as to who it was. What surprised Arthur was that Elizabeta; Gilbert's self proclaimed best friend was completely in the dark and even more surprising she was extremely anxious to find out who this mystery Omega was. Everyday she would bombard the albino with a million questions in the hope that he might crack and answer. It never worked though and now Arthur was starting to worry about his new friend. She was becoming obsessive and despite the fact they spent most of their schooldays together, she couldn't seem to focus on anything other than Gilbert. She even talked nonstop about the Alpha during a sleepover they had arranged the night before. Arthur wanted to dye his hair green again and needed help from her, that or his parents would make him change it back like they did before he transferred. Elizabeta was only too happy to oblige, but it didn't stop her talking his ear off.

"But he won't talk to me!" she cried and threw herself over his shoulders causing the punk to shudder and push her off with a grimace.

"Well if you keep bloody annoying the twat of course he's not going to tell you," he snapped at her and put a small distance between them. "Maybe if you backed off then he would tell you."

His advice went on deaf ears, Elizabeta instantly went into a detailed plan about spying on the Alpha. Arthur ground his teeth as she got more and more annoyed as the plan grew in intricacy. Eventually the boy had enough and spun the girl around to face him, his hands firmly gripping her shoulders.

"Why in the world are you so bloody obsessed with him?"

She froze at his question, her eyes wide as she stared into his emerald ones. "I... he's my friend and I want to know who he likes," came her answer, it was far from the confident answers she normally gave and much quieter.

"You are not just fucking curious," Arthur growled and glared at her.

"I... I don't know what you mean," her voice came out in barely a whisper.

"Just admit it, you're jealous of whoever this Omega is and you want to get between Gilbert and them."

Arthur finally let his grip of Elizabeta go when he felt her go slack and saw her gaze fall to the ground.

"Maybe, I just feel weird about it. I don't think I like the thought," she mumbled in reply.

"About bloody time, I swear I actually thought you were clever for a while there. But I suppose even the clever ones can be stupid sometimes." Arthur crossed his arms to watch her, a small smirk playing on his lips.

Elizabeta shot a glare at the green haired Omega but stopped when she realised they were the only ones in the hallway. Pulling out her phone she gasped at the time. "We're late," she yelped then grabbed Arthur's hand to pull him to their class.

_Meanwhile in the Alpha class_

Gilbert groaned and stretched out on his desk. For two solid weeks Elizabeta kept annoying him and bombarding him with questions about the Omega he liked. As much as his friends tried to convince him that she might even be okay with the thought of an arranged marriage, he knew better. If he told Elizabeta that she was the Omega she wanted to know about, she would run. Or worse still laugh at him and think he had gone soft. He didn't need that, being the awesome Alpha he was he had to stay strong, even if her constant pestering was starting to get to him. He was busy ignoring the teacher during their business class when suddenly an announcement stopped the lesson.

"Could all students and their teachers please make their way to the auditorium," came the principal's voice over the intercom.

The intercom beeped to indicate the announcement was over and the class looked at each other nervously before their teacher gathered his notes and told them to start leaving the class. Obliging they soon found themselves outside the auditorium's door. Regrouping with the Omegas, Gilbert, Francis and Antonio where quick to ask if they knew what was happening. Both Omegas shook their heads and they soon launched into a conversation to try and figure out the purpose of the announcement. Only Arthur remained quiet and slowly followed after them.

The school filed into the auditorium, whispers reverberating through the students over the topic they were being called out of class for. As no forewarning had been given none of the students or even staff aside from a very select few knew the true purpose. Most thought it had something to do with school safety, others a new teacher. Overall most were just glad to get out of class. Trailing behind nearly all of them was Elizabeta, Gilbert, Francis, Antonio and Arthur trailing close behind. Thoroughly tired of their school routines they welcomed the short break but didn't give a damn over the reason behind the talk. Pushing past a few students they took their seats close to the back near the edge of the row. Peering down at the crowd Elizabeta noticed how edgy some of the teachers appeared and how confused most were. They lined the steps down to the stage of the auditorium and prevented students from causing trouble when a few Alphas started getting bored. They were lucky Gilbert and Antonio were just glad to be out of class or they would have been adding to the looming chaos. Instead the two young Alphas reclined back into their chairs and settled in for a nap. It wasn't long before soft snoring could be heard from them. Arthur on the other hand was twitchy and looking around in nervous anticipation. Normally Elizabeta wouldn't be too concerned over it considering that's how he generally acted around Francis, but this time Francis sat drawing on his friends faces, completely ignoring Arthur. She couldn't help but wonder if this talk was the reason behind his nervousness.

"Okay students, you may all be wondering why you were called out of class," Mr. Beilschmidt's voice broke through the chatter and the entire student body turned their attention to the principal who stood behind a tall mahogany podium. "Well we have some very important guests with us today that have offered to help fund part of a new curriculum aimed towards the Omega students," Elizabeta perked up at the mention of new classes. "From next week on, Omegas will get the opportunity to study more classes and if they choose, can join some Beta classes. Now I think it is only fair to allow our guests to explain what these classes are and to introduce themselves." He stood back from the podium and looked to his left were a tall woman with straw blonde hair nodded then took his place.

"Students to start off, I would like to say what an honour it is to be present in such a prestigious school," the woman spoke with a strong, very posh English accent, "Some of you may recognise me, but for those that don't I would like to introduce myself as Brianna Kirkland, ruling Queen of England." A series of gasps ran through the crowd and everyone glanced at each other. Elizabeta didn't notice Arthur shrink back into his seat with a small whimper. "Now onto the reasons I am here today, of course I am happy to fund a new program that will give Omegas new opportunities after school. I have heard that this school among others has had an increase in Omegas wishing for alternative lives once they graduate from this fine academy. I intend to help fund the school in the hope to allow those Omegas to pursue such dreams. I know this goes against traditional ideals but in England and indeed in other parts of the world such as America, modern ideals are growing more popular and I hope to allow Omegas here to be a part of that." She smiled kindly down at the crowd and picked out Elizabeta beaming up at her, waving at the girl she continued her speech. "Now, many of you will be wondering why I am choosing this school in particular, and I must confess even though this is one of the most prestigious schools in the world my reasons are purely personal. I am sure that none of you are aware that my grandson attends this school..." she fell into silence and carefully searched the crowd for her grandson, the entire auditorium falling silent with her.

"I think the woman might be getting sentimental in her old age, don't ye agree Artie?" came a quiet voice from behind Elizabeta and her friends. Jumping, she along with Francis spun to see a tell red haired Alpha with massive eyebrows leaning on the back of Arthur's chair. Arthur was frozen in place, his face contorted in shock and void of any colour. "Aww lad, ye're big brother comes all the way to your school and ye won't even talk to me?" The Alpha's teasing tone did not make things better for Arthur, instead he remained frozen in his spot unable to move to face the man. "Okay lad, if that's the way ye want it," the Alpha sighed and stood up and pointed down towards the small Omega and signaled to someone standing up at the door. It was then Elizabeta and Francis noticed the designer navy suit he wore. This man was not a student. His eyes that were a scarily similar green to Arthur's flashed when he got a wave in return from a teenage girl with long curly copper hair in a light blue dress standing near the door. Leaning over Arthur's chair again and running his hands through Arthur's hair. "So what happened to your hair? The old woman's not gonna like it too much, didn't mum and dad forced you to get your hair stripped the last time you dyed it?" Still no reaction. "Okay then if ye want to play it that way I suppose I could get her down here... I'm sure she wants to see how her precious wee Omega is doing..."

"Alistair, what the fuck do you want?" Arthur suddenly roared at the man and jumped to his feet glaring angrily up at the Alpha. The Queen who had continued her speech abruptly stopped and stared in their direction. Feeling the eyes of over a thousand people on his back Arthur threw himself back into the chair and covered his face with the hood on his black leather jacket. Desperately trying to block out the attention he was getting.

"It's alright grandmother I have this under control," Alistair casually called to the Queen who nodded and continued her speech about new ideals in the world. Elizabeta and Francis gasped at the term. He had called the Queen his grandmother; and Arthur his younger brother making Arthur...

"What did I miss?" came a sudden hiss from beside them.

Glancing over her shoulder, Elizabeta had to suppress a laugh to see Gilbert staring at her. He had a pair of glasses drawn onto his face, a black curled moustache and the tips of his hair coloured black. Both Elizabeta and Francis quickly hushed him and looked over at the still sleeping Spanish Alpha. Giving them a confused look, Gilbert glanced over them to see the red haired Alpha leaning on Arthur's seat and the Omega stubbornly hiding from all the attention he was suddenly receiving. He didn't have to wait long to find out what was happening.

"Aww Artie I thought ye were never gonna ask!" the Alpha exclaimed happily and pulled the boy into a tight hug. Arthur tried in vain to escape and growled angrily. "I'm getting married in two months and Fianna wants ye to be a bridesmaid!"

"What? Let me go you git!" Arthur growled and finally pushed himself away from his brother. "What in the blazes makes you think I will be a bridesmaid?" His face was a bright shade of red in a mixture of embarrassment and anger.

"Do ye not remember promising to be a bridesmaid at her wedding when ye were a wee lad?" Alistair teased. Arthur stared back at him, completely gobsmacked he was now being held for a promise he made when he was four. "Don't tell me ye forgot."

"Of course I haven't forgotten!" Arthur snapped his voice pitching, "But why do you want to keep me to a promise I made when I was four?"

"Because you're my wee brother and if I'm honest, I think that if we don't have you playing a major part, ye won't show up," his tone was serious now and fixed Arthur with a glare telling him he needed to obey.

Arthur glared back insulted by what his brother was implying.

"Alistair," he started as calmly as he could, "what makes you think I will skip my own brother's wedding?"

"Cause ye ran out of your own party," Alistair answered flatly, "ye made everyone look like fools, not to forget the amount of trouble ye caused when ye publicly humiliated all of us after your first heat was announced."

"That was different!" Arthur snapped, "actually you know what! I don't even know why you want me there! Why in God's name would you want a rebellious Omega who dyes his hair green and runs his mouth off?" he flung his arms down by his side and raced up the stairs. The copper haired Omega tried to stop him but he pushed on past, slamming the door behind him.

Sighing Alistair stood up and looked down at Elizabeta and the rest.

"I suppose the lot of ye are his friends?" he asked.

They nodded dumbly in confirmation.

"Right, well thanks for keeping an eye on my wee brother," he then turned and walked up to the Omega who stood watching them. After a quick conversation she left through the door with a smirk and Alistair followed closely behind.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

Arthur raced down the hallways trying desperately to lose his brother or anyone else who could be following him. He had only ever been that embarrassed once in his entire life and that was when his heats started. But this time in a sense it was worse, his refuge was gone. He had hidden among the students as just another kid from a rich family and he liked it. He liked not being treated like he was made of glass, he liked the fact people fought back. It was fun, it was a challenge and he loved it. But now it was ruined, he wasn't even sure if his friends would even want to know him after he lied about his name and heritage. One thing stood above everything else raging through his head, he was terrified. He didn't want to go back and he didn't want to be as alone as he was in the palace. Sure he had a few friends but they rarely visited and aside from his American friend Alfred, very few ever spent the time getting to know him. The rest just used him for his money and power.

An hour passed by and no-one came looking for him but he could hear students walking through the halls again. He had hidden in an old abandoned classroom his friends had shown him. Cautiously he poked his head out the door and sighed in relief to see very few students near. Although it didn't help that they stared at him, he found it safe enough to leave. Glancing at his watch he yelped when he noticed the time. He was almost late for English class and he intended to get top of the class in it so he raced through the halls, reaching the door just as the bell rang. Ignoring the whispers and stares he made his way to his seat and plopped himself down when he realised he left his bag in the auditorium along with all his homework. Groaning he dropped his head onto the desk and stared off into space thinking about how his day couldn't get any worse. He was wrong, a whisper behind him brought him back to the land of the living. Twisting he stared wide eyed at the copper haired Omega from the auditorium who sat right behind him, a grin plastered to her face.

"Lad, your friend has your bag," she motioned to Elizabeta who quickly slid the bag towards him. "So what made you run away yesterday?" she asked in a soft Irish accent.

"Tch, trust him to send you," Arthur scoffed and pulled his books out of the bag, looking up he saw the teacher pointedly ignoring them.

"Come on wee boy I'm not that bad, he was gonna come himself but he had to talk to your grandmother," she told him and moved from her seat to sit on his table earning herself a particularly nasty look from the boy.

"Why would you even want me in your wedding anyway?" Arthur snapped after a few seconds.

"Cause you're the closest thing to a sibling I have," she answered.

"What about the rest? If I recall you always spent more time with my other brothers than me," he shot at her and tried to push her off the desk, he failed.

"Aye, but you have to see a problem there, it would be weird if I thought of Alistair as a brother. As for Dylan, Rory and Peter they're more like close friends," she said after a bit of contemplation. "You were the only other Omega around so I suppose that's why."

Arthur swore under his breath and cursed her honesty. That was one trait he could never fail but admire.

"Fianna... I still don't understand why you think I'm important enough to be..."

"You know why," she cut him off with a quick stare.

"Fine," he conceded, "but I'm not wearing anything stupid!"

"Deal," she laughed and jumped up from the desk, "you need to come home tonight though, oh and I guess you can take your friends if that will make things easier."

Arthur's eyes lit up at the prospect of inviting someone.

"No not Alfred, you know he would be arrested as soon as he sets foot on British ground," Fianna warned him and cast a look over his friends who were staring at the pair, Arthur sighed and nodded. "Good! So see you later Artie!"

"It's Arthur," he growled in return but it was too late the Omega was gone and chatting to his brother outside the door. Glaring at them through the window in the door Arthur was starting to dread what life was now going to bring to him.

The class ended too quickly and no matter how much he wanted to avoid everyone during lunch afterwards he knew it was impossible. The second the bell ran he felt arms wrapping around his shoulders and felt soft hair brush up against his cheek.

"So mon lapin," Francis started in a purr, "you never told us you were royalty."

Arthur remained seated and shut his eyes.

"Sí, you should have told us amigo, we wouldn't have treated you differently," Antonio piped in and Elizabeta agreed.

Glancing at his friends he was shocked to see they were looking at him the exact same way but they wore smirks instead of their normal mischievous smiles. Gilbert however was sitting at his desk, his chin resting on his hand and his face showing he was deep in thought.

"So we're invited to the wedding?" Elizabeta asked excitedly and rushed forward to shove Francis out of the way.

Arthur nodded numbly, he was not happy to admit it but the wedding terrified him.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm actually putting notes on this one cause I fell like I need to. Sorry for this taking so long. Life hit a bump and it was impossible to write. Things should be clearing up soon so when that happens much faster updates.  
> This chapter is a lot longer and finishes this arc, so maybe that might make up for the stupid delay this time.  
> Well that's enough from me so enjoy ^^'

Silence met them when they finally made it to the canteen. For a brief moment they all thought that they would finally be free of the stares of their fellow students that seemed to follow them from the second Arthur had made it to class. Sadly, they were very wrong. The vast room fell dead silent as the doors shut behind them. All heads turned to them and they could almost feel the eyes boring into Arthur. To say Arthur wasn't a bit perturbed by the attention was a lie. It wasn't until Francis clasped a hand onto the Omega's shoulder that he realised he had started backing away towards the door. Clenching his fist he forced himself to focus his attention on Francis who was now leading him towards their normal table. As he was guided to his seat he could feel his Omega urges yelling at him to escape, to get out of there and hide until all the attention went away. Instead he settled for glaring at everyone who dared stare at him, saving a few choice death glares at anyone who whispered about him. He almost wanted to scream at everyone now none of them turned away, but he knew that wouldn't solve anything. They all wanted to see the royal Omega, like he was an endangered animal on display in a zoo. Arthur felt exposed and vulnerable. It was not a feeling he liked and one he wanted to get away from. It was only when he noticed a shadow fall over him did he realise Francis was leaning over him, protecting him from an older Alpha who had started approaching.

"Mon ami, I would walk away if I were you," he said in a low growl.

The Alpha stopped and stared warily at him, trying to gauge if it was worth his time defying that order. Suddenly Arthur had had enough though, he was being protected by someone he barely knew and didn't even respect. There was no way he was going to allow that pompous Alpha to act so strong around him.

"Right, that's it! I'm sick and tired of being gawked at and fought over like a damned prize," he jumped to his feet and fixed the new Alpha with a death glare. His green eyes boring into the Alpha's near black ones. "You better bugger off right now before I rip your bloody throat out." At this the Alpha took a step back then quickly walked away, stares from every other student in the canteen following him. Arthur smirked to see embarrassment take hold of the Alpha in the form of a blush crossing his face as he ran off almost falling over a Beta who had stopped to watch him.

"You should have let me take care of him, mon cher," Francis told him and took his seat again, staring intently up at the blond teen.

"About that, would you kindly do me the favour of pissing off?" Arthur sneered at the Frenchman.

Francis was about to reply but the return of their friends from getting food stopped him in his tracks. Gilbert placed a tray in front of him and whispered something into the Alpha's ear that Arthur couldn't hear. It was enough however to make the boy stop in his tracks and take his seat once again.

"Arthur," Elizabeta started as she slid a full tray of food towards him. He stared down at it in dismay. His last school had what he considered proper English dinners, this school... this school in his mind skewed when should have been normal bangers and mash into something else. Something not British. It wasn't that he didn't like it, it was just different. "You know Antonio was right," Arthur's eyes shot up to meet the other Omega's. "We really wouldn't have treated you differently, it's actually pretty cool to know royalty." She beamed at him as he just stared dumbfounded back at her.

"Ja," Gilbert butt in, "you saw how I acted when I found out you were using a different name. A bit of Googling and it wasn't hard to find out who you really were, these guys are nearly as awesome as I am so they'll be cool." At this the rest of the table aside from Arthur shot Gilbert a surprised look. Elizabeta was the first to react.

"You knew?" she asked in a gasp. "How long?"

"Since he got here," Gilbert replied with a shrug. His red eyes gleaming knowing that he had something over his friends.

What happened next he was not expecting, a handful of lasagne was now sliding down his face. Reaching a hand up to wipe away the mess he glared at the giggling girl sat opposite him.

"You should have told us," she said in between her poorly concealed laughs.

"I promised not to, right Artie?" Gilbert spared a glance at the English Omega. The boy was barely holding in his own laughter but he bristled at the nickname and despite his best efforts to get mad, he could only laugh at the now very messy Alpha. Gilbert had to hold himself back from glaring at the giggling girl beside Arthur as he started wiping off the mess.

"D-don't call me Artie," was all he could muster in place of the scolding he would normally give.

"See, I couldn't break a promise," Gilbert added to his earlier statement. Resuming to cleaning off the food from his face he was met with more, this time potatoes from a very shocked looking Arthur's plate. Gilbert stared at the Omega but quickly realised it wasn't him that threw them, it was Francis. After that hell broke out at the table as food was flung in every direction yet somehow never leaving the vicinity of the table. Each morsel hitting one member of the group of friends.

Relaxing, Arthur sat further back into the plastic chair and watched as his new friends broke into a small scale food war. He was amazed the teachers hadn't stopped them, but he guessed that the teachers never got involved in things his friends did anymore. Despite how annoyed he was with his family, he was somehow okay with having his friends know he was royalty. He thought that, if after finding out he was royalty the only way they really reacted was defending him and then breaking into a food fight, things might actually be fine. There was no way he would be treated like an ornament like he was in his old school. Although that rarely lasted long when his temper led him astray or his other friends dragged him into something. He was quickly snapped out of it when a slice of pizza hit him smack in the chest, ruining his brand new band t-shirt. A vintage Nirvana t-shirt he spent months tracking down and then quite a bit of time convincing his parents he needed. Despite the band being outside his normal music, he really liked them and loved the t-shirt. Letting out a silent breath he stood up and slowly reached for his plates. Looking around the food remaining in front of his friends he grinned when he saw who was eating pizza. _Perfect,_ he thought, _lets see him act so smug when he's covered in appalling bangers and mash._

Without so much as a warning he walked around the table to stand behind the Alpha then tipped the food onto his head. Antonio yelped at the contact and leapt to his feet. Arthur grinned at him before smoothly taking his seat again.

"That, is for ruining my good t-shirt," Arthur told him crisply then sat back and crossed his arms over his chest.

The group had turned to watch Antonio, fully expecting him to retaliate but loud laughter from close by stopped them.

"Mio Dio!" came a loud voice with an Italian accent in between gasps for air and more laughing. "I thought you were just another fucker like these guys but I like you." They watched as a lean, tanned Omega with dark auburn hair that had an errant curl sticking out at one side and honey coloured eyes came forward still trying to silence his laughter.

"And you are?" Arthur asked unaware of Antonio's complete change in attitude as he went from slightly annoyed to a fawning fangirl in less than ten seconds.

"Lovi!" he exclaimed happily and attempted to throw himself on the younger boy. "You finally accept..."

He was cut off when the Omega, after being trapped in a hug punched him in the side.

"Leave me alone you tomato bastard!" he yelled at the now crumpling Alpha, "I wanted to talk to the British jerk!"

"Ahem, I do have a name," Arthur filled in, annoyed at how he was being talked about.

"Yeah, I know. You're Arthur prince of all Britainians," the Omega sneered, "I'm Lovino Vargas."

"Britainians isn't a word Lovi," Antonio said in a slight laugh as he pulled himself from the ground.

"It... it is! I heard it on tv!" Lovino snapped back and jumped around to face the Alpha, his face now turning a bright red.

"No, it's not. Maybe you are thinking of Brits? Or Britons?" Arthur supplied. He couldn't help the smirk he wore, he found it interesting how an Omega could be this outspoken and not be reprimanded by an Alpha, instead have an Alpha fawn over him.

"Lovi, you're so cute when you're angry, but sí, Arthur's right," Antonio smiled at the Italian Omega.

"N-n-no! I heard it! I-I have to be right. Omega's are always right!" Lovino stammered, his face growing continually redder until it almost resembled a tomato.

Antonio only smiled back at him, which angered the Omega even further until eventually he spun around and ran off, swearing at them in Italian. Antonio following closely behind calling out for the Omega to stop in a mixture of Spanish and Italian.

"So now you finally met Lovino," Elizabeta said cheerfully when silence finally fell over them and they sat back down.

Arthur only nodded, his mind still focused on the feisty Omega. There were times when he knew his temper was bad but he doubted it was ever like that.

"We don't know why Antonio likes him, but it's kinda unawesome how he acts when that guy is near," Gilbert added.

"It is," Arthur agreed in merely a whisper.

After a few more minutes passed it was clear Antonio was not coming back so an uneasy conversation about Arthur's life as a royal started. Luckily for Arthur, it didn't make him feel uncomfortable; instead, it made him happier to know that he might be able to have a normal life with his new friends. Lunch quickly ended and the following classes rolled into one big blur. Students and teachers were more cautious around him, but it wasn't as bad as he suspected. When he finally left, he was quietly confident that things would be okay and that he only had to worry about being an Omega, not one made of glass.

* * *

A few weeks passed in a swirl of classes, sleepovers and further welcoming Arthur into their group. It was a fun time for them and the shock of Arthur's family background caused Francis and Antonio to forget about Gilbert's plight. However it hung over Gilbert like a dark cloud and the nonstop questioning from his father about his progress in wooing and changing Elizabeta did nothing to help. In the midst of all this was the wedding they were invited to. It was, to put it lightly a hectic for them. Aside from Arthur, they all had to get permission from their parents to attend. That's what led Gilbert up to this point. He stood at the top of the stairs calming himself to ask his father if he could go. The wedding was in England so that also meant his father taking time from work to accompany him overseas.

So there he stood, his eyes fixed on the invitation in his hands as he contemplated how much easier it would be to run away for that week. Actually, he thought, that would be much simpler. His mind was racing now as he seriously considered the idea. It would be so much easier to just run away. Maybe borrow his father's credit card and hitch a ride along with Antonio or Francis. Their families were less strict than his. In the middle of his train of thought a small cough from the bottom of the stairs caught his attention. Shifting his attention to the source of the noise he gasped when he saw him. His father was standing there, a pale eyebrow raised in confusion.

"Why are you standing there like an idiot Gilbert?" he asked incredulously.

"I..." Gilbert froze then thought about what he was going to say, well that was until he reminded himself he was far too awesome to be this scared of someone. Especially his own father... even if he had every reason to be terrified of the daunting man. Shaking himself back to the situation at hand he grinned and confidently made his way downstairs. "The awesome me got invited to a wedding in England." He exclaimed proudly and thrust the invitation into his father's hand.

The man stared at him in shock before prying the paper envelop apart and pulling out the invitation. He stared at in complete shock as he read through it. Gilbert was reading the man like a book. The young Alpha could tell his father didn't believe the invitation was real, but he thought it would be up his awesome self to prove it real.

"Gilbert... how in the hell do you know English royalty?" he inquired, obviously unsure of whether or not the invitation was real.

"My friend Arthur is the Omega prince that was in the news a few months ago. His future sister in law invited us," Gilbert explained nonchalantly, like his father's change in behaviour was not affecting him.

"Which one was Arthur?" His father's mind was racing, running through the list of Gilbert's friends that he had met. However none of them stood out, or were too fuzzy to remember properly.

"The Omega with green hair and the biggest eyebrows you have ever seen," Gilbert explained quickly. He could see his father's eyes widening in recognition as he finally placed the name to one of Gilberts friends. In Gilbert's mind it shouldn't have been that hard, he had all his friends, including Arthur over to play games or just hang out a lot in the past month. There wasn't a single week when they weren't over nearly every schoolday.

"Scheiße," his father swore loudly and his hand flew to his face to pinch the top of his nose.

Arthur now stood out clearly in his memories. The few times he met the boy, he had given out to him or told him he would be forced to leave if he acted up... this was not good as far as relations between their families went. It was very clear now that the boy he identified as a threat to his son's behaviour could have also helped his business gain some very important clients. However, now when he thought about the boy it made sense. He had been invited to the customary party to celebrate the prince's first heat. He only caught a glimpse of the prince and the only thing that stood out in were those eyebrows. Just as he was starting to worry about any future disturbances it would cause his phone rang and he quickly took it out of his pocket, answering it without looking at the caller I.D.

"Hello," he said at calmly as he could whilst pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Hartwig, I'm sure you know why I'm calling," came a man's voice down the line. Hartwig relaxed slightly, it was Elizabeta's father. It was very obvious given the invitation he held in his hand the reason behind the phone call.

"Ja Kristóf, I can hazard a good guess. It's about the royal wedding Gilbert and his friends were invited to."

Gilbert stood back watching his father talk on the phone for what felt like hours. Between the occasional "yes," "that might work" or rare "no," Gilbert could only guess at what they were talking about. Eventually when his father hung up he turned to watch his son closely, carefully considering what to say.

"Gilbert," he started and glanced down at the invitation quickly, "Kristóf and I, that is to say Elizabeta's father and I have decided that you will act as Elizabeta's date for the wedding. You will of course be chaperoned by her brother. There are a few things you need to accomplish by then though, first you must convince her to dress appropriately and act accordingly. Her father said she wants to wear jeans and a t-shirt... you have to convince her to wear a dress." Gilbert stared at his father in shock, he had to hide the urge to laugh at Elizabeta wanting to wear jeans and a t-shirt to a wedding. However the more he thought about it, the funnier it got and he let a smile break onto his face, but just before he burst into laughing he clasped a hand to his lips and forced it down. All the while his father kept his eyes glued firmly on him, completely unamused and bored by his son's antics. "I am going to assume you will do that by the wedding? Otherwise her father has stated that she will be promised to someone else, someone who can prove his worth." Gilbert immediately stiffened. He gulped apprehensively and nodded. "Good, you have," he once again checked the invite and his eyebrows shot up at reading the date. "you have three weeks. Why didn't you show me this before?"

Gilbert shrugged and tried to push off the dread building in the pit of his stomach. "Arthur only gave it to me today," came his simple reply. Taking his father's look of disgust at how late the invites were sent out as his queue to leave, he grabbed the piece of paper and ran back upstairs. At the top he stopped to look back and met his father's eyes. "I can get her to wear a dress if that's what it takes to prove myself," he called down to him and fled into his room. Just before he spun around to run off, he could have sworn he saw his father's face twitch into a smile.

Reaching his room he launched himself onto his bed and grabbed his phone, calling Elizabeta before he could convince himself not to. As he waited for her to pick up he ran through the encounter with his father in his head and froze. He was so eager to go to the wedding and to prove himself as the awesome Alpha he knew he was; he didn't realise what he had whole heartedly signed himself up for. He had to get Elizabeta to physically change in the next three weeks, or at the very least get her to wear a dress once. It was one thing dealing with her parents and arranging dinners and stuff. That was partially in self defence so they wouldn't send him away and he could continue hanging out with his friends. This, this was actively doing something.

Before this he had just followed Francis' and Antonio's harebrained schemes to win over Elizabeta. As it turned out none of them worked. The only thing that they thought had done anything was the wardrobe change. However that wasn't the case, it only aroused her curiosity about whom it was he was trying to impress. Eventually she got tired and gave up. Which, unfortunately for Gilbert infuriated Francis who as the proclaimed Lord of Love (despite him being only thirteen) had to get Elizabeta to fall for Gilbert, or at the very least notice him as an Omega would. What the wardrobe change had done, had also won Gilbert a lot of Omega fans. Before the change most would avoid him or run off when he was near. Now a few giggled when he walked by and he started receiving letters in his locker. As much as it had delighted Francis and Antonio in the hopes it would make Elizabeta jealous, she only ripped them open and read them with such enthusiasm she almost scared Gilbert. So there Gilbert lay, sprawled out on his bed on the verge of hanging up his phone when she finally answered.

"Hey Gilbert, what's up?" she answered.

Gilbert stiffened. He couldn't answer. Not now when he was thinking of ways to convince her to go dress shopping.

"Giiiilbert... are you there?" she drawled down the phone, impatiently tapping the side with her finger. Gilbert on hearing the faint tapping shook himself back to reality.

"The awesome me was just calling to see if you got permission to go to Artie's brother's wedding," he said quickly, his usual confidence coming back with every word.

"Yeah, my dad said it's okay. But apparently I have to wear a dress." Disappointment saturating her voice at the mention of the dress.

"Ja... well it is a royal wedding," Gilbert managed to chuckle then saw his chance, "hey want to go looking with me tomorrow afternoon?" He was hoping the suggestion would sound like it was just a thought he just had.

There was a slight pause on the other side of the line that made him worry a bit but it was soon broken.

"Why would you want to go dress shopping?"

"I... uh..." he was panicking.

_Scheiße,_ he thought _, she was not supposed to ask that. But wait... she always notices when people are acting weird and I just asked her to go dress shopping... scheiße... what do I say?_

"I... need a suit... ja I need a suit awesome enough for me and none of the ones I have now are good enough. I need someone almost as awesome to tell me how hot I look," he laughed down the phone.

_That was too close,_ he thought, _at least I'm awesome enough to think of something like that._ He felt like applauding himself but stopped when he realised Elizabeta started talking again.

"Fine, but you need to help me find the most not girly dress possible," she laughed.

"Deal! Meet you outside your place at one?"

"That works for me, see you tomorrow!" with that she hung up and Gilbert stared up at the ceiling in awe. He had just convinced his best friend to go dress shopping, his tomboy friend who hates everything girly. He definitely needed an award for being the most awesome person alive now.

* * *

At one the next day he stood outside Elizabeta's mansion waiting. After a few minutes had passed he was starting to get antsy, just as he reached into his pocket to check his phone for the millionth time since he got there the gate opened and out ran Elizabeta. She was pulling a red cardigan on over her blue top and faded jeans. She looked back at the mansion quickly then grabbed Gilbert by the wrist and pulled him down the street after her.

"Why are we running?" Gilbert asked loudly, he kept trying to pull his arm back and get out of her grasp but her grip was iron clad.

"Because my mother is being annoying again; she's tried to make me do my hair," she explained quickly over her shoulder. Gilbert grinned, her hair was indeed a mess but she always made it look good. It was haphazardly pulled back into a ponytail and strands hung loose around her face and at random points on her head, almost like she intended to look like she had rolled around for hours until her ponytail started to loosen.

"Well," Gilbert looked around and could see they had now gotten far enough away from the mansion, "can we slow down?"

Elizabeta either didn't hear him or pretended she didn't, so he pulled on his arm and forced her to stop by refusing to run anymore. She turned to stare angrily at him.

"We're here," he said and pointed to a dress shop opposite them.

It was the largest dress shop in their city and the place you wanted to buy from. It had large windows up front and an array of it's dresses on display from a Cinderella type wedding dress to less formal dresses meant for smaller occasions. Suits weren't displayed in the window but they could be seen lining the walkway through the shop. The sign above the windows was written in intricate pink font and read "Pink on Wednesdays" on a sterile white background. The windows were decorated with black modern cat statues. When they pushed open the glass doors open they saw that the walkway was in white tile while the rest of the floor was in black tiles that reflected the lights on the ceiling. Dresses lined the right hand side and front of the shop whereas the left and small section at the back was assigned to suits and menswear.

They had barely stepped through the door when a small bell alerted the store clerk of their presence and a loud squeal met their ears.

"Oh my god! Like what are you guys doing here?" they were met by a flurry of blond and Elizabeta was tackled into a hug.

"Hey Feliks," Gilbert greeted happily and clapped a hand on the Beta's shoulder.

"Hi," Elizabeta said breathlessly and pushed the boy off her, "we're shopping of course." Elizabeta stuck out her tongue at the last part and winked at him cheekily.

"Oh of course you are, but like now I can help you," Feliks chuckled and played with his hair. "So like, what can I help you with? My family runs this place so I can totes find everything you need."

"Really? Cool," Elizabeta smiled and paused for a moment before continuing. "Gilbert needs a suit for a wedding we're going to."

"And Liz needs a dress," Gilbert added. He was quickly met with an elbow to his side. He turned to glare at the Omega who instead feigned interest in something Feliks was wearing. It was only then Gilbert actually realised that the Beta was wearing the most ridiculous outfit he had ever seen. He was wearing a neon pink dress with knee high white socks, he had a black (what he hoped was fake) fur jacket over it and wore black pumps with small white bows on the front. Gilbert was starting to regret getting Feliks to help them, but he had to admit the look didn't look too bad on the blond.

"Oh my god! Liz I can like finally dress you up!" he almost squealed and jumped up and down in excitement. "You have to come over here, I have the perfect dress for you!" Without so much as a warning he pulled her further into the shop, eventually stopping in front of a selection of long simple dresses. "Here," he said grabbing a long royal blue dress with sequins and glitter lining the neckline and continuing down the side. "Try this." He didn't give her a second to protest before she was shoved into a changing room and told to "hurry the hell up!"

Five minutes later Gilbert and Feliks were still waiting outside the changing room.

"Guys," she called, "I don't think this will work."

"Seriously?" Feliks replied and moved to stand in front of the white door, knocking on it lightly. "Come out so we can like, see."

Gilbert sat up a bit straighter on the black leather cube chair he was sitting on.

"I can't... I look weird," she complained.

"You can't look that bad," Gilbert tried, "if you do we can laugh at how stupid the dress looks, you'll look awesome in anything." He immediately reddened at saying that and Feliks spun to stare at him, his mouth hanging agape.

"Fine, but if you guys laugh then I'm leaving," she answered and slowly opened the door.

Her gaze was fixed on the floor in front of her as she stepped out and Gilbert could see why she didn't like it. It hung strangely on her hips and trailed badly on the floor. The blue only succeeded in making her look paler and sickly. To make matters worse the dress seemed to engulf her and make her look like a walking blue pillar, not like a human at all.

"Yeah... I can like totally see why you don't like it..." Feliks agreed lowly, "okay change out of it and we'll go pick out a few dresses so we've got to find the right one." He smiled kindly at her and she nodded in acknowledgement then walked back into the changing room to change back into her normal clothes. It took less than a minute for her to come back out this time and she shoved the dress into Feliks's arms.

"You better find me a better dress," she warned and marched off, her head held high.

Gilbert smiled at Feliks before following her into the rest of the shop. Feliks could only watch them talk about random dresses and laugh at others from his spot, too transfixed with how easy it was for Gilbert to convince her to come out of the changing room and how easily he had said that. Then he smiled, Feliks finally figured out who Gilbert was trying to woo and he was more than a little excited.

They spent the next hour forcing Elizabeta to try on dress after dress with no luck. Each and every dress failed to catch her eye. It was even worse when she tried them on. She nitpicked about every small detail and then once she had run out of things to complain about the dresses she reverted back to complaining about how cold they were. But then, as a last ditch attempt Feliks pulled out a dress from the back and handed it to her. She looked at it suspiciously before turning back into the changing room. By now she was tired and gave up complaining about trying on all the dresses, instead resigning herself to her fate. When she re-emerged a few minutes later everything changed about her demeanour. Gilbert and Feliks were talking about suits when she coughed quietly to get their attention. They instantly fell quiet at seeing her.

"I think I like this one," she told them uncertainly.

Gilbert was gobsmacked. She was wearing an emerald green dress that stopped just above her knee. It was strapless aside from intricate black lace decorated in a small amount of jewels that wrapped over her left shoulder and wrapped around the bodice. The dress flared out slightly at the bottom and appeared to float where it stopped. Her hair had fallen loose in between changing and it now hung loosely over her shoulders and Gilbert gulped to see how different she looked. The girl in front of him was not the tomboy he grew up with, she was changing before his eyes and it was scary how much it was affecting him. Shaking his head to clear his head, he gave a numb thumbs up. Which accompanied by Feliks' squeals she took as good news. She nodded quickly and told them to wait then disappeared back into the small room.

"You totally like her," Feliks commented with a sly smile.

"What?" Gilbert squawked and shifted to stare at him.

"The Omega you wanted help impressing, it's her," Feliks continued, ignoring Gilbert's shock and choosing to examine his nails instead. "If you told me it was Liz I wouldn't have bothered taking you shopping, she isn't shallow. But you did need a new wardrobe..." he let his comment die as Elizabeta returning stole both their attention.

"I really like this one," she said happily. She had the dress cradled in her arms and looked excited at the thought of wearing it again.

"Ja... it's a good dress," Gilbert agreed, "you need to get it."

She nodded excitedly and turned to Feliks, "I do."

Feliks smiled and led her off to the cashier were she quickly bought it using what Gilbert assumed was her parents credit card. Then once she was content with her buy she turned to Gilbert and gasped.

"We forgot your suit!"

"I just remembered... I forgot Vatti's card... we can come back another day," Gilbert said quickly, it was the only thing he could think of. He really didn't want to spend another second in the shop and just wanted to get home. After all, he did what he came here to do, Elizabeta got a dress. That was all that mattered.

"Really? Well if you insist... so I think that's us..."

"WAIT!" Feliks cut her off frantically, "we forgot shoes!"

They both stared at him in disbelief.

"Yeah, like we need to get you a pair of heels that will like, totally match that gorgeous dress!"

They didn't get a chance to disagree because the next thing they knew they were being pulled into the shoe section beside the changing rooms. Thus started an hour of Elizabeta trying on countless pairs of shoes and doing her best Bambi on ice impersonation. Eventually she bought a pair of black heels with small black diamantes that she deemed walkable and lugged a tired Gilbert out of the shop before Feliks could stop them.

Slowly they made their way back down the street towards their homes. The streetlights flickered to life as they walked.

"That was... fun," Elizabeta commented as they slowly strolled along.

"Ja... never thought you'd wear a dress," Gilbert said, suddenly feeling nervous and bundled into his jacket. He had insisted on carrying her bags when they left the shop and the now swung at his side.

"First time for everything," she replied happily and stuck her tongue out at him. Gilbert stared at her. He was pulled to her lips, he couldn't put into words what he wanted to do without feeling the need to kick himself. "You okay?" she asked when she noticed his sudden change.

"Yeah! Ja I'm fine!" he urged and snapped his eyes up to the sky. A blush made its way across his cheeks and he hoped she didn't notice.

"You sure?" she paused then poked the side of his face. "You've been acting weird lately..."

He didn't answer, only continued staring at the storm clouds building in the sky.

"Gilbert? Why did you take me shopping?"

He stopped. His attention on everything other than her. He was desperately trying to find the right words.

"I... Scheiße... I can't do this... just don't change okay? It's too confusing and ah! Just stay awesome!" With that he fled leaving her on her own on the footpath.

He couldn't do it.

Yes he took her shopping but that didn't mean he could get her to change. He wouldn't... he wasn't willing to face whatever kind of mental torture that brought around. There had to be another way, there had to! Racing home he barely noticed that it had started raining and his phone was ringing. Slamming his front door open he ran past his father and brother. Only stopping when he got to his room. His phone was now impossible to ignore. He slowly pulled it out of his pocket and groaned to see it was Elizabeta. He was too awesome to ignore her wasn't he? No he wasn't. He pulled the battery out and threw it across the room. Curling up on his bed he forced the world away and squeezed his eyes shut until he eventually drifted off into fitful sleep.

The next morning he woke up to loud knocking on his door. Pulling himself up he dragged himself to the door, he knew what was going to happen. He left Elizabeta at the side of the road on her own, at night. There was no recovering from that. He didn't even reach the handle when the door was thrown open and his father along with Elizabeta's stood there, glaring down at him.

"I can't do it..." he mumbled. _Gott_ , he thought, _I'm so fucking pathetic._

"I can't change her... she's too..." he tried to continue but his voice caught in his throat.

"Kristóf, I want a word with my son alone." Hartwig said to the man behind him. Kristóf backed off without a word, leaving only the Beilschmidts alone. "Gilbert... there's no way back from this," he said as calmly as he could and stepped forward to place a hand on his son's shoulder. Slowly he started leading the teenager towards the bed and sat him down on it, taking a place beside him.

"Elizabeta is okay," he started, he knew his son well enough to recognise his rare falls into depression. He had seen enough of it to last a lift time when his wife died. "She was just annoyed you ran off... if you had have stayed with her for a few more minutes everything would still be okay."

Gilbert sucked in a deep breath, he knew what was coming. He just wished his father would hurry up.

"But the Hédevárys aren't happy. They don't think you're a suitable suitor anymore..."

Gilbert's shoulders shuddered. It was only then that Hartwig noticed his son was crying. Wrapping an arm around the boys shoulders he pulled him closer.

"I know I have been... hard on you, but maybe this is for the best."

More silence. Hartwig did not like this.

"There's more, unfortunately. They aren't happy with you being deemed an unsuitable suitor and it makes me worry about your future."

_Here it is,_ Gilbert thought.

"So in consideration of your grades, your recent behaviour and attitudes... I, along with your step mother have decided to send you to military school until you learn to be a respectful Alpha who can prove himself a suitable suitor for any future Omega. Who knows it may even be Elizabeta again?"

He looked down at his son again. Gilbert had stopped crying and now scrunched his face up in anger.

"Can I ask why you did it?"

"... I got scared," Gilbert finally spoke, his voice quiet and unlike his own. "I just... she has to stay the same... she's too awesome to change."

Hartwig sighed. He knew there was nothing more that he could say, Gilbert knew his fate and it was now a matter of packing his things and sending him off.

True to his word, Gilbert was sent to military school the next day. He was given time to say goodbye to his friends aside from Elizabeta. Despite this, he only sent a quick text to both Francis and Antonio saying the same thing.

_I fucked up big time a few days ago and I'm being sent off. Guess I gotta say bye for now_

That was it, that was the last thing he had to do before his new life with too many rules and restrictions began. He could only hope that he could learn to behave... or at the very least, pretend to.

The next week for Elizabeta was hell. Her best friend had left without a word and to make matters worse, her parents seemed glad of his departure. She was numb. Everyday she would wander the halls to her classes, talking very little unless she was spoken to. That was until one day she was running late to class and just couldn't find it in herself to care when she heard something. Following it she quickly learnt it was a piano from one of the many music rooms. Normally someone playing the piano never caught her attention, but this time it did. Slowly she pried open the door of the room it was coming from when she stopped. Her heart in her throat as both the music and the pain in her heart stopped, but only for a brief moment. It came back and she finally broke down. However someone rushed to her side, making her sit up and listening to everything she had to say. For the first time in her life, she was thankful for music.

* * *


	11. Chapter 11

Gilbert sauntered down the halls of the school. It had been three years since he had set foot in the building and he was more than a little happy to be back within the familiar walls. He winked at the occasional teacher he recognised, even sending a few charming smiles at some unsuspecting Omegas. Yeah, he thought as the giggles trailed off behind him as he continued walking. It was good to be back. Despite how long he was away it felt like he had only taken a few weeks off. True there were a lot more students he didn't recognise, but the place still felt the same and as far as he was concerned that was all that mattered. As much as he wanted to swing around the senior years halls, he resisted. He had a mission, well more like an obligation. He had to report to the principal and as much as he didn't want to see his grandfather so early in the morning, he couldn't get out of it. So with a slight skip in his step he made his way through the halls until he was stopped by a loud blond boy with glasses.

"Yo dude! I thought you were gonna be late," the blond said with a cheeky smirk. An American accent playing heavily on every word.

"Alfred, the awesome me is never late," Gilbert replied cheerily and started leading them both down another hall.

"Dude, how many times did I tell you to call me Al?" Alfred shot back with a boisterous laugh. "Come on you need to show me around this place, seriously how the hell don't you get lost?"

"Sure Al," Gilbert chuckled. He was in too good of a mood to get annoyed at the energetic American.

After leading the rest of the way Gilbert sucked in a breath at reaching the too familiar door of the principal's office. Just as was about to knock on the door it swung open and he was faces with his grandfather. It was the first time he faced the man since he left for military school and that moment scared him. So he stared at the Alpha who now was not that much taller than him. This was something he was glad of; over the last three years he shot up in height and was now taller than most people, including his father.

"Gilbert, nice to finally see you again," Gilhart greeted him.

Gilbert was more than a little surprised to see a small smile on the man's face. What happened next was unexpected, he was pulled into a tight hug. Instinctively he froze up and he could feel Alfred stare at them in shock. After a few seconds he was released and both he and Alfred were led into the office. They were given their schedules and run through some basic school rules which Gilbert was too awesome to listen to. So when Gilhart finally stood up to take them to show them to their lockers and their first class Gilbert snapped out of his daydream with a start and stumbled after them. They walked in silence and Gilbert could feel Alfred's eyes boring into him. He had a lot of explaining to do when they got time considering he may have neglected to mention who he was related to within the school. After sorting out the lockers they proceeded onto their class. Nearing the classroom Gilbert had to fight the urge to run on ahead. During the time he was in military school he was restricted from talking to his friends. After what felt like nearly an age they finally reached the room and Gilhart had to grab Gilbert by the collar to stop him bursting through the door.

"Wait here while I get your teacher," he informed the teenage Alphas and pried the door open after a quick knock.

They could hear talking from inside the room and within a minute Gilhart returned, the vice principal close behind him. Seeing the albino Alpha, he broke into a smile and rushed forward to envelop the teenager in a huge hug. Picking him up without breaking a sweat he spun them around, laughing happily while Gilhart stood back looking at them with disapproval. But he wouldn't tell Romulus to calm down just yet. He was Gilbert's godfather and despite how much Gilhart wanted Romulus to remain professional he allowed him this one time. But that did mean his friend would owe him. He let them hug out their reunion before he cleared his throat to get their attention.

"As much as I hate to break up this reunion you have to get back to class," he said and looked on as the two broke apart and turned their attention back to him, grins plastered onto their faces. "You also have another student to introduce to the class. This is Alfred Jones," he motioned towards Alfred who stood back, awkwardly watching the whole ordeal. "Alfred, this is your class teacher, Vice Principal Vargas."

Romulus turned to greet the American with a huge smile and a friendly handshake that shook the entire teenager's body.

"Nice to meet you Alfred," Romulus said with a bright smile.

"Yeah, same," was all Alfred could muster. He had never been one to read situations or people very well but this time he knew that his presence interrupted something important.

"Oh, an American!" Romulus exclaimed in surprise, "it's about time we got one," at this Gilhart slapped a hand onto the Vice Principal's shoulder.

"Shouldn't you be getting back to your class and introducing these two?" he asked, his voice cold but stern.

"Sí, sí... well come along students!" Romulus agreed loudly and laughed off the question then lead the way into the class.

Then it was like a dream. They lined up in front of the class, most of the students hadn't noticed them come in and were still wrapped up in their conversations. The ones that did however took interest in them and watched them carefully. The few that recognised Gilbert gasped. Then it happened, Mr. Vargas called for everyone's attention and everyone's eyes were glued to them.

"I would like to introduce everyone to a new student and one you might already know," he started and beamed down at the class. "First off, I'd like to introduce Alfred Jones. Want to tell everyone about yourself?"

Alfred sent a million megawatt smile at him and started introducing himself in a booming outdoor voice.

"Yo, I'm Alfred, but you guys can call me Al cause Alfred sounds old. I'm from the good old US of A and everyone knows how awesome that place is!" he stopped to laugh a bit, "My family runs a fast food restaurant chain and my dad is the US ambassador in the UK. I like comic books, sports, well real American sports and Xbox." He paused for a moment to consider what else to say but then shrugged, "I guess that's it."

"Okay Alfred... Gilbert?" Mr. Vargas leaned forward to look at Gilbert who had made eye contact with his old friends who stared at him dumbfounded at his sudden appearance.

"Sure, well I'm the awesome Gilbert Beilschmidt and ja my family does run the school. But then I guess some of you guys aren't all losers and knew this already," he sent his friends a cheeky smirk and continued in his rant/introduction. "So most of you guys are already awesome enough to know me cause I used to run the school before I left three years ago."

"Lies! It's all lies! He used to be a coward and ran away from all the Omegas," came a sudden joint protest from Francis and Antonio. Antonio stood up and crossed his arms at his friend.

"Sí, this guy is a pussy, he couldn't even tie his shoelaces without us," Antonio teased.

" I remember how he used to hide behind us if he saw an Omega walking down the corridor," Francis added, standing up to join his friend.

"Oh and remember the time he fell in mud and started crying, mi amigo that was not sexy," Antonio said and smirked at the albino.

"You cried too," Gilbert retorted, a dangerous smile playing on his lips.

"But you don't deny crying like a baby?"

"It wasn't me, that was Francis. Remember he ruined his new shoes?"

At this both Antonio and Gilbert burst into laughter and Francis blushed a bright red.

"They were Armani!" he shouted in protest but it fell on deaf ears as the rest of the class chuckled silently among themselves. Antonio and Gilbert being the exceptions by roaring in laughter.

"But ja, I'm the awesome Gilbert and everything those two losers said were lies," Gilbert finished his introductions and looked at Mr. Vargas, rubbing a tear from his eye.

"I shouldn't have expected anything else to happen when you got in here," Mr. Vargas said still laughing slightly at his introduction. "So take your seat beside Francis, Alfred you can take the other free seat beside Francis too."

Shuffling through the rows they quickly took their seats and the remainder of the class began. However despite how much Mr. Vargas tried to reign all the students in, they were lost in their own conversations. Some in favour of Gilbert's return, openly welcoming him back, others, wishing he had stayed away. After a fruitless ten minutes, he gave up and allowed the class study time, meaning time to talk among themselves.

"Gil, you never said you're family runs this school," Alfred started when they were given the freedom to talk.

"I... I forgot?" Gilbert answered, slightly unsure of what to say.

"Really? So all the time we spent planning to come here you never remembered?" Alfred challenged, the smile on his face told Gilbert he wasn't angry, just curious.

"Ja, it's so unawesome so I didn't want to remember it," Gilbert said after some thought.

Just as Alfred was about to ask another question he was cut off by Francis.

"You two know each other?" came his question and stealing both their attentions.

"Yeah, we were in military school together," Alfred answered easily. He didn't see Gilbert cringe slightly at the mention of military school.

"Really?" Francis asked slowly, "so what was it like?"

"Unawesome," Gilbert responded quickly and launched into introducing Alfred to his friends.

The rest of the class passed in a whirlwind of conversations and "welcome backs" until finally the bell rang signalling their short freedom till the next class. Stopping at their lockers they talked about small things and Gilbert caught up with his friends. Then he heard it.

"Francis!" he turned to see a brunette Omega come running towards them, it was obvious that she hadn't seen Gilbert, yet. "There you are. We need to hurry up or we're going to be late for class." Her eyes were fixed firmly on Francis who turned to smile at her.

"Ah Liz, good morning," he replied happily.

Gilbert's heart stopped. It was Elizabeta and after three years of not being able to talk to her, let alone see her, he froze. For the first time in his life he was speechless. She was more beautiful than he remembered. She traded in baggy tracksuit bottoms or jeans for skirts, her normally pulled back hair was flowing freely down her shoulders. However, what stood out the most to Gilbert was that she lost all traces of the tomboy she used to be. Gone was the roughly stitched together bag replaced by a floral patterned satchel bag, a loose jacket replaced by a girly green top to match her navy skater skirt and more surprising she was wearing makeup and heels. The girl he knew had disappeared, or at least she did as far as appearances were concerned.

"Good morning my ass! Where were you this morning? I had to leave class to come find you," she argued, her voice raising in pitch with every word until she was finally face to face with the Frenchman.

Gilbert forced himself to conceal a smile to see that, despite how she looked she seemed to be the same person he grew up with. Then it happened. She looked at him.

Scheiße, Gilbert thought as a rush of emotions hit him. This was the girl he refused to change, this was the girl he went to military school for. This was the girl that he had come to realise he couldn't live without. The years he spent away from her made it crystal clear to him how he needed her in his life. He felt hollow without her and now, now she was within his reach. This girl terrified him because somehow she made him fall in love with her.

"Gilbert?" Elizabeta said testingly. Her expression was unreadable and she took a small step forward. Gilbert could see small tears forming in her eyes, but while he was distracted by her captivating jade eyes he didn't notice her hand reach into her bag. What he did notice next was a large black object coming straight for his head. Without a second of hesitation he ducked and narrowly avoided getting hit by what turned out to be a frying pan.

"Woah Liz, calm down!" he urged and held his hands up in surrender. "I'm sorry I left but I..." he didn't get to finish the sentence as the frying pan came into contact with the back of his head. She had somehow swung the frying pan behind him and by doing so, silenced him. Before he could recover from the shock of being hit Elizabeta was marching down the hall, a concerned Francis being dragged behind her.

"Dude, what the fuck was that?"Alfred asked in complete shock.

"That mi amigo was Elizabeta, our dear childhood friend," Antonio informed him with a small sigh.

"Scheiße, could she hit any harder?" Gilbert mumbled and forced himself to straighten up from his crouched over position. "Glad to see she hasn't changed much... well personality wise. Why was she looking for Francis anyway?"

"They have cooking class together," Antonio said quickly and scanned the corridor for any signs of someone else they knew.

"Seriously? Alphas cooking?" Gilbert gasped, "what next? Are you're going to tell me that an Omega is student body president?"

Antonio eyed him closely and nodded. "Sí, you'll never guess who either."

Gilbert didn't have time to answer until another voice caught his attention.

"Gilbert is that you?" came a very English voice from behind them. They all spun to see Arthur standing staring at them, his arms filled with papers and files. He had lost the punk look aside from the green hair, which was a striking comparison to his preppy outfit of a red blazer over a white shirt and black slacks. "I thought I was..." his voice trailed off as his eyes landed on Alfred, who until now was just standing back and trying to absorb everything he could. "Alfred..."

It was like lightning had struck the area. Everything froze as the two locked eye contact. That was until Alfred rushed forward and pulled Arthur into his arms, without a moment of doubt he cradled his head then leant down to kiss him.

Time stood still as he felt the Alpha's lips press onto his own. His mind was racing. Part of him wanted to push Alfred away, but the other wanted to cling onto him and never let go. But then his logical side started kicking in. It had been over three years since they saw each other, let alone talk. He didn't even know the guy anymore and to make matters worse they were in the middle of a corridor in a very busy school. That was all the thinking Arthur needed. He quickly pulled away from the American. He stared up angrily at the confused Alpha and swept his hand across Alfred's cheek.

"What in the bloody hell do you think you're playing at?" he half screamed, half scowled. "You leave me alone for over three damned years, then you show up here of all places without a word and just kiss me? Who the hell do you think you are?" he glared angrily at the teenager. His green eyes boring holes into Alfred's azure ones.

"Art, I couldn't help it..." Alfred tried to explain, looking crestfallen and like someone had ruined his favourite desert.

"You couldn't fucking help it?" Arthur asked hysterically, "you know what just, just piss off alright? I have enough bullshit to handle right now." With that he stormed off, scattering unsuspecting students who just happened to get in his way.

"And that, is our new student council president," Antonio chirped when Arthur was out of sight. They both turned to stare at him, both of them cradling their heads in some form or another.


	12. Chapter 12

"Oh man, what the hell am I gonna do?" Alfred whined as he stared down the hall in the vague hope that Arthur would come back.

"What are you going to do?" Gilbert shrieked at the American, in a totally awesome way of course, "that frau just freaking hit the awesome me with a frying pan!"

Alfred ran his hands through his hair in frustration before turning to yell at the teen, "Yeah, but you didn't kiss her! Art's probably never going to want to talk to me again after that!"

"But at least he didn't try to hit you as soon as he saw you," Gilbert shot back, "it was your own stupid fault that happened."

"Oh yeah because being rejected like that is much better," Alfred retorted, his face now starting to turn a shade of red.

Meanwhile Antonio could only stand back and watch as the friends started ripping into each other; both trying to make their own situation sound much worse than they actually were.

"Mi amigo, please calm down," Antonio tried with a nervous laugh. "It's not a competition, but I'm sure with a bit of help we can all figure this thing out."

To his eternal surprise both Alpha's turned their attention towards him.

"And besides, class is going to start soon and I don't think either of you want to get in trouble," Antonio continued.

After a slight pause they both conceded with a nod.

"Ja, you're right. After all it is the awesome me we're talking about! I'm sure I can sort out this thing with Liz!" Gilbert declared, his trademark laugh returning with a vengeance.

"I suppose," Alfred added, however the look he cast down the hallway once again made Gilbert think the Alpha had other plans. "It's just that... it's been so long, man. I just want to talk to him and apologise, maybe catch up with everything."

"You can do that after class, but I think we need to go now," Antonio explained with a kind smile.

"Umm, how long do we have 'til class?"Alfred asked suddenly, his eyes still glued in the direction Arthur disappeared down.

"Not long enough," Gilbert answered quickly, cutting off Antonio before he could say anything. "Now come on," he snarled and grabbed the American's arm to pull him towards their next class.

Despite the taller Alpha's struggles, Gilbert's grip was iron tight and they were soon outside the class, Alfred grumbling under his breath at him.

The second the class started however Gilbert wished he had stolen Alfred's idea and chased the Omega. As it turned out the Beta teacher had for some reason decided that morning to make all her classes as dull as physically possible. Or at least that's what Gilbert assumed given that nearly everyone else had either drifted off into their own dreamworlds or the few studious ones were fervently taking notes and adding a few doodles to the side of the page.

Sighing, he let his head fall onto his arms crossed on the table and shut his eyes in a vain attempt at shutting out the incessant droning about how important safety is to a workplace. He was already starting to hate his new subjects. At least in military school the dull classes were partially interesting, mostly due to the fact that they had to force themselves to be interested or face running twenty laps for drifting off. The more interesting classes were in his opinion, simply awesome. Between learning how to shoot, fight and many other basic skills that were required in the military, Gilbert was spoilt. Here however, he was finding it hard to keep himself awake. Forcing himself to sit up straight he pulled a piece of paper towards him along with a pen and like the nerds, started desperately scribbling down notes. It didn't work. Five minutes later his head was once again glued to his arms and he could feel his eyelids become heavier and heavier. Or at least that was until he saw a splash of green cross the frosted glass on the door.

What happened next was completely unexpected. Loud coughing erupted from his right and Gilbert spun in shock to see Alfred clutching at his chest, his face a dark red. Without warning the blond crumpled onto the ground with a whine.

"Miss!" Antonio yelped and jumped to the floor to help Alfred sit up. The teacher had already stopped her lecture to stare at the Alpha with wide brown eyes. "I think someone needs to take Alfred to the infirmary."

The teacher could only nod dumbly as Antonio futilely tried to lift the American.

Meanwhile Gilbert could only stare at him in shock. He was almost one hundred percent sure Alfred had seen the same green splash go past their room, so he had a strong feeling this was a ploy to get out to talk to a certain strong willed and quick tempered Omega.

"Miss, he's faking it!" Gilbert argued, a feral grin playing on his lips. The look of panic and annoyance that swept across Alfred's face only confirmed the albino's suspicions. "He does this all the time he just wants to," Gilbert continued but was cut off when Alfred's hand grabbed his leg and he was met with furious blue eyes.

_If you get me out of here, you can go talk to her as well,_ Alfred mouthed at him. While Gilbert didn't understand most of it he did catch the last few words and it was enough to make her reconsider what to do.

A few more seconds passed and Alfred's coughing grew louder and more erratic. Eventually Gilbert broke.

"Wait no, this is serious!" he suddenly exclaimed with fake concern so elaborated and exaggerated he was sure the teacher would see through their ploy.

She didn't and within a minute they, along with Antonio were outside the classroom. Alfred propped up between both of them.

"Aww man," Alfred said abruptly and straightened himself up and stepped away to smile back at them.

Antonio stared at him in shock while Gilbert could only cross his arms at him in disappointment.

"That was totally unawesome, seriously, that's the best you can do?!" he jeered, completely unamused by his friend's antics.

"Well it worked and that class was dull as shit," Alfred replied with a shrug and a sheepish smile. "Anyway guys, I need to run or I'm not gonna catch him."

With that he waved them goodbye and ran off after the green haired Omega.

"What was that about?" Antonio asked cautiously, seeing how annoyed Gilbert looked.

"He's a fucking idiot that's what that was about," Gilbert growled under his breath and turned to face his friend. "Well, we're out of that class now, what do you want to do now?"

At this a large beaming smile made its home on Antonio's face but before he could say anything a loud chorus of very familiar voices reached them from the end of the hall. Sharing a quick look they turned and raced towards the source, however they came to an instant stop once they heard footsteps coming closer accompanied by the exasperated sounding voices.

"Can you bloody believe that git?" came an oh-so English accent they both recognised as Arthur's.

The Alphas paused to share a look, it appeared that Alfred had missed the Omega; they could only assume that Arthur went into a room and Alfred ran past him.

"I know!" this time it was Elizabeta. Gilbert could feel himself shrink against the wall as if making himself smaller would enable him to listen in better. "And that... that bastard! Where the hell did he come from and to greet me with such a stupid smile!" She cut herself off with a growl that sounded more like a frustrated scream.

"This is just insane, right?" Arthur asked desperately. "I mean, this can't actually be happening, can it? It's virtually impossible that he should show up now of all times, especially after I..." he fell silent and even the Alphas could tell that there was more he wanted to say.

"Igen," Elizabeta said, her voice this time less harsh and her anger not tainting her words as harshly as it had done a mere few seconds before. "But Arthur, it was a few years of nothing, you can't blame yourself that you decided to give someone else a chance."

"I know that, but the timing," Arthur told her worriedly, "what if this is a sign? What if that bloody git just happened to come back and the universe is telling me that I shouldn't have agreed to that damn date with the frog this weekend!"

Gilbert had to force himself to restrain a gasp at the mention of the nickname. His friends hadn't mentioned anything about Francis asking Arthur out and being successful; sure the Frenchman had been infatuated with the Omega since they met, but Gilbert didn't expect anything to come from it. He stood in stunned silence as the information sank in. Alfred had spent years waiting to win over this Omega, only to lose him now at possibly the finish line.

"Arthur," Elizabeta started, this time much more firm, "don't you dare think about cancelling that date. If it goes well that's all that matters, if Alfred really cares that much about you, then he'll have to prove himself. Okay?"

"Right, yes, I suppose there's nothing else I can do. But Liz what about..." he was cut off by the addition of another voice further down the hall.

"What?" the voice was rough and strained.

At this Gilbert and Antonio came out of their hiding place to see Alfred staring at the Omegas, tears lining his eyes.

"Dude, you did not just say that, tell me you didn't," he pleaded.

Arthur remained silent and let his head drop to stare at the floor.

"Then who's this frog?" Alfred asked, his voice now laced with anger.

" Nein," Gilbert interjected. "Dude, you can't ask that," he could feel Antonio staring into the back of his head for both bringing attention to themselves and for using the word "dude." Gilbert shrugged it off, he couldn't help it that he picked up a few speech habits from his best friend during military school.

"Why not? Why don't I get the right to ask who my competition is?" Alfred shot back.

Elizabeta's head snapped towards Gilbert once his voice rang through the air and she instantly paled. However it was only Alfred's last question that made her respond.

"Okay, that's it! We're leaving and until you learn that Arthur is not some prize to be won, you're not coming near him anymore," she snapped and grabbed Arthur's wrist then dragged him down the hall, on passing Gilbert and Antonio she shot the Alpha an annoyed look but to his relief didn't hit him this time.

Colour drained from Alfred's face as the words sank in. "No! Wait I didn't mean it like that, I mean," he started desperately, but it was too late. They had vanished around a corner and it was very obvious that none of them would be able to talk to either Omegas for quite some time.

It was only when a long, low whistle broke the silence that they realised that they had all been standing dead still for a lot longer than they thought and the bell had already rang.

Turning around the saw Francis drop their bags onto the floor and set them with a dead stare.

"You know, if you intended to skip the entire class you could have taken your bags," he drawled. "So what has happened here that has everyone so zombie like?"

Gilbert didn't know what to do. One side of him wanted to congratulate his friend and judging by Antonio's reaction to the sudden appearance of the Frenchman, he was the same, or punch the teen for hurting Alfred, even though inadvertently.

So they all stood there in silence until Francis himself decided to break it in the worst way possible.

"Anyone doing anything exciting this weekend, because I have news," he said slyly, but the smile on his lips betrayed his happiness.

"Ja! Actually I am, well kind of," Gilbert jumped in instantly. "Ahh, the awesome me is being forced to go to a boring party at the prisses house. So, ja anyone want to go and make it more interesting?"

"Si!" Antonio replied without a second to spare, "what do you think Francis and Alfred? It could be fun."

"Nah man... I just, I'm just not in the mood to go to a party right now and I don't even know the guy," Alfred replied dejectedly.

It was only then Francis noticed how upset the blond seemed to be, however he couldn't care. By now he was buzzing with energy and a need to tall everyone his wonderful news.

"Oui, it should be fun," Francis added with a smile, completely ignoring Alfred now. "Okay and anyone want to guess what my good news is?"

Neither of his best friends answered him, instead they sent him looks warning him not to say another word. They were unheeded.

"Okay if none of you want to guess then I have no choice but to tell you," he continued, his smile growing ever wider. "Moi, the master of love, has finally convince a certain prickly Omega to go on a date with me." By now Gilbert and Antonio were stumbling over each other to get to their friend but to their horror, his words came crashing out. "Oui! I have finally convinced our lovely student body president to go on a date with me! This Saturday I shall be taking our petit Arthur out to dinner."

It was like time had froze, wide eyes stared at Francis instead of the proud ones he had expected. Then like a crack of thunder and lightning the silence was shattered as Alfred's fist collided painfully with Francis' jaw and the Alpha was sent flying across the floor.


	13. Chapter 13

Elizabeta stared around the ballroom in boredom. She looked immaculate in a voluptuous deep purple gown that sparkled ever so slightly and perfect makeup. Her hair was pulled back into a tight low bun and not a single hair out of place. Sighing, she reclined back into her corner and let her mind wander freely until the flash of a blue cravat through the rainbow crowd caught her eyes. With a gasp, she vanished up the spiraling stairs to her right to the balcony. Her father was on the prowl and she didn't want to be found. Well, it wasn't that she didn't want to be found, she just wanted time to compose herself away from prying eyes; which was hard to do given that she was at a huge party.

The entire purpose of her attending this party was to mingle with the rest of the upper class, something she had avoided doing for most of her childhood. However now she was just avoiding everyone and playing the recluse. She hadn't even spoken to him yet. Slowly, she stepped forward to the railing and looked down on the crowd. The place was beautiful with tall stained glass windows in two of the walls and exterior lighting, colours were cast down onto everyone dancing. Three crystal chandeliers twinkled above them and to the left was a raised stage with a band playing enchanting classical music.

The people attending the party were just as beautiful as the ballroom. The Omegas wore sparkling jewel coloured dresses and dress suits, their heels set with exquisite jewels that matched their extravagant jewellery and over the top hair styles. The female Betas were just as stunning in flowing gowns whilst the male Betas, like the Alphas wore pristine suits and brightly coloured ties or cravats. But above all, every single person seemed to give off an air of glamour that Elizabeta didn't feel like she could match in those moments.

Taking a breath, she allowed herself to calm down. She didn't need to worry, five more minutes and she will be out mingling with the best of them and making her parents proud. Or at least that's what she was hoping. Her mind was swimming. Too many things had happened over the past week and she was not ready to deal with any of it. First Gilbert had magically reappeared and now Arthur had to deal with that American Alpha showing up, all of which just meant more for her to avoid and help people with. Yep, she thought, this week has been far too stressful. However the worst part wasn't that she had to deal with all that, it was somehow trying to move on and pretend she was okay with it. Which was almost an impossibility. She was just barely pulling her life together and getting all the pieces to fall into place, she was not ready for it to blow up in her face. Not after she finally stopped feeling alienated and alone.  
Closing her eyes, she forced herself to focus on the music, how the piano soothed her and made her forget all her troubles. That was the one good thing to come from the last few years, piano music calmed her even when things seemed at their worse.

Gilbert watched from near the window behind her, a book held open in his hand completely forgotten about as his mind spun as to why she was there. He was just recovering from an impromptu movie night and the disaster that was his week and was avoiding anyone who might recognise him when he was suddenly enraptured. His attention now fully on the Omega in front of him who oh so casually watched the crowd below.

She shouldn't be here, he thought and furrowed his brow before popping the book into his jacket pocket. Stepping forward, he reached out a hand to tap her on the shoulder but froze. This was the Omega who had spent the entire week running away from him and his friends. The very same Omega who hit him with a frying pan when they first met on Monday morning. Pulling his hand back he stopped to consider his options however he didn't get a chance when a group of Alphas pushed past forcing him to step forward out of their way, straight into Elizabeta.

"Watch where you're..." Elizabeta spat but instantly fell silent when her eyes landed on his.

"I was! It was those bastards that weren't!" Gilbert countered quickly and glared back at her. If she was going to be angry at him then he knew there was no reason to play nice.

They glared at each other in silence until something from the corner of Gilbert's eye caught his attention.

"Hey," he started, gesturing towards a buffet table that was just set up not far from them. "Why don't we get something to eat and then just talk? I don't want to fight with you."

Elizabeta watched him carefully before tilting her head upwards and making her way towards the food, thankful for a distraction. However she still didn't want to play nice. If anything she just wanted answers about his disappearance and why she was the only person who seemed to have been left out.

"So why are you here?" Gilbert asked, eyeing the brunette Omega beside.

"I should ask you the same question," Elizabeta shot back and took a few of the tiny pepperoni pizzas from the table.

"Hey I asked first," Gilbert retorted and grabbed a cocktail sausage before stuffing it into his mouth. "I have every reason to be here, after all we're inseparable." Gilbert cringed at the statement despite the smug smirk he wore, he hated the fact that technically given their family ties he couldn't pull himself away from the smug aristocrat as much as he wanted. It was something he was constantly reminded of at every family gathering and everytime he got in trouble for beating the Alpha up.

"You are not! Didn't you call him the "Prissy girly pants" when we were kids?" Elizabeta shot back with a snarl and grabbed a few more tiny pizzas before turning away from the buffet table.  
"Nein, that was you," Gilbert snickered, "you thought he was just as girly as I did when he started crying after you kicked a football at him."

Elizabeta flushed a bright red and accidentally let the pizza she had held in her mouth fall. "I... don't be stupid Gilbert! I would never call him that! Now why are you here?"

"Ja, you did! Then you laughed at him, even more than I did." Gilbert assured her with a cheeky grin.  
Memories of that day came flooding back to her and she flushed a bright red. She was only ten and the Alpha was getting on her nerves when he refused to join in on the football game because she was playing. She ended up playing when both team captains started fighting over who wanted her on their team the most. Roderich on the other hand was sent to the nurse's office in tears, a huge red mark growing on his forehead.

"Well I've grown up Gilbert and people change!" She told him in indignation and turned to storm off. However a flicker of something that looked much too close to sadness that flashed in Gilbert's eyes made her stop.

"Ja, I noticed," he mumbled to himself and stared off into the crowd. He couldn't let her see how annoyed he was at that very large and unavoidable detail.

"Look, I don't know why you're here and why you keep annoying me but I have to go," Elizabeta snapped at him in a vague attempt to smash the awkward tension that had built between them.

"I'm here because I'm awesome, and you should be honoured to be in my presence," Gilbert said smugly, his usual arrogance and ego returning full swing.

"Yeah, it's such an..." she was cut off when a hand clasped onto her shoulder and they turned to stare at her father.  
The man was eyeing Gilbert up as if the albino was a deadly predator intent on wiping out both him and his daughter.

"Gilbert," he nodded after a very long delay.

Gilbert replied as politely as he could, he didn't like the man, he really didn't like him.

"I see you finally left military school," Kristóf continued, his eyes never leaving the albino's.

Elizabeta gasped, she didn't know where he had been. She didn't know. No-one had ever told her and when she asked and tried to get answers for herself, she was shot down. Instead she got answers like "he needed to be trained to take over" or a "special Alpha school." Not this. She stared at him is sheer shock as the information sank in.

"You never told me that you were at military school," she murmured to him, the words falling from her lips before she could stop them and she burned a fierce red as both Alphas turned to stare at her. Her father's eyes widening at the sudden realisation of what he had said before snapping back to Gilbert; warning the young Alpha to shake it off.

"Ja, I mean I didn't have a choice in it but I had to," Gilbert answered after some careful consideration and acknowledgement of Kristóf's glare. He nervously scratched the back of his neck and tried not to break eye contact then shifted his gaze towards the floor.

"Why? If you really had to go then you had to have known you were going before you just freaking vanished!" She snapped at him, her anger returning in full force.

"It's none of your business, okay? I was supposed to do something but I refused and was shipped off. Is that what you wanted to know? I wasn't awesome enough to..." he cut himself off and stepped backwards away from the Hédeváry's, glancing between them in a mixture of shock annoyance. Oh how he wanted to tell her everything. That the man standing right beside her, her own father was the reason behind a lot of the pain he knew she went through, for destroying their friendship and for almost destroying his future. He was long past blaming himself for his current situation, after all he did his best and prevented something much worse.

"Elizabeta," her father said suddenly, "you've spent enough time talking and we really must move on. You're needed."

He slowly started to turn his daughter away from Gilbert's gaze and almost sighed at how easy it was to move the Omega. She wasn't fighting. Three years ago he would have been faced with an argument.

Gilbert glared at their retreating backs. He hated this, how subservient she had become and now more than ever he wanted to break his silence and tell her everything. However there was one thing that stopped him. That same look of confusion and annoyance she had every time she was made to act like an Omega, the exact one that she wore as she was pulled away.

Time passed much slower once Elizabeta left. Antonio had long since vanished leaving Gilbert with no-one to talk to. So doing what anyone else would do, he wandered around the hall, occasionally stopping to flirt with an unsuspecting Omega as he did so. That was until the music stopped and everyone's attention was called to the stage where Roderich stood between his parents. A tall female Alpha with long sleek poker straight hair and deep violet eyes and a female Beta who stood at shoulder height to the Alpha, her hair cut into a bouncy chocolate bob and her eyes a sparkling blue. Roderich matched their composed exteriors easily and coolly looked upon the crowd. As the Alpha launched into a long speech about honour and tradition, Gilbert couldn't help but notice Elizabeta standing near the front of the crowd. Her eyes glued on Roderich.

"Hey amigo," Antonio greeted him suddenly and slapped him on the ass as he stepped up to stand beside him.

Gilbert jumped at the contact and spun to hit the Spaniard, however the almost painfully cheery smile the Alpha wore was too much. Instead he just stared at him in confusion as something else hit him. The undeniable scent of an Omega clung to him.

"Who?" Gilbert questioned, forgetting that his friend had just hit him.

"Who?" Antonio echoed, confusion and panic riddling his face. "What do you mean by that amigo? I was just talking to my papa." His voice pitched uncomfortably as he spoke and the tinge of red that now plagued his face did not help.

"Who's the Omega you were with?"

"What makes you think I was with an Omega?" Antonio chuckled and turned towards the stage in a vain attempt to shake off the attention.

"You reek of them."

The words shattered Antonio's resolve and he slowly twisted to stare at Gilbert, carefully analysing him to ensure he could be trusted. After a few moments and a sigh he steeled himself for his revelation. There was no point in hiding his new romance from Gilbert, he knew this and knew how much of a pain Gilbert would be if he wasn't told first.

"I... you have to promise not to tell anyone," he bargained after a pause. Gilbert nodded fervently and Antonio once again braced himself when suddenly gasping broke out over the crowd and everyone spoke in hushed whispers and pointed to the stage.

Steeling their attention, they glanced towards the elevated platform and in an instance Gilbert felt time come to a stop and shatter. Like every nerve in his body was protesting in a soul voice, begging, screaming at him to make everything stop. It didn't though and he had to stand there in silence and watch. Watch as Roderich got down on one knee in front of an Omega playing dress up, an Omega he had taken it upon himself to change. An Omega he was now engage to and possibly forever out of Gilbert's reach. Gilbert could only watch as the Omega, the woman he had given so much to protect and just be with move further away from him. He could only watch as Elizabeta became engaged to the one Alpha who truly got on his nerves. Roderich.

 

 


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *boop*
> 
> *Magically appears with new chapter*
> 
> So yeah... this took a while but it's here now and enjoy!  
> Big thanks to my amazing Beta, Lemons in my Life. She stops all the eye bleeding inducing typos I keep forgetting I make and is just an awesome person anyway :D She can't stop me from making them in my A/Ns though mwahahaha... sorry...

Right, she thought. If she just got the derivative of these numbers and then... her trail of thought shuttered to a complete stop as a magazine was deposited on her desk, followed by a small “um”. Slowly and reluctantly, she lifted her eyes from the extensive maths problem that she had finally figured out how to solve, only to come face to face with a small gaggle of Omegas. Each one looking more excited than the last.  
“Can I help you?” she asked, ignoring the magazine and instead choosing to focus on a small raven haired girl with onyx eyes. The girl, Sakura, if Elizabeta remembered correctly, turned a furious shade of red and barely muttered a response.  
“I... we, sumimasen. W...we heard about your...your engagement and we thought you might like this,” she stammered quickly, her eyes glued to the ground as she took a deep bow. “It was in my locker and you’re such an inspiration to us, senpai that we thought we could help ease the stress from the wedding in any way possible.”  
The other girls nodded enthusiastically and continued their unwavering smiles.  
“But I just got engaged,” Elizabeta tried to reason but was forced into silence by a girl she recognized as Francis’s cousin.  
“We know,” she chirped, her dark eyes lighting up as she spoke. “But we couldn’t help it, you’re just so nice to us and help us when we’re stuck in maths or other Alpha subjects so we had to do something.”  
Elizabeta cringed at the term “Alpha subjects”. The classes had been open for three years now, however, it just showed how much truth was left in the old generalization that Omegas couldn’t do math. Something that Elizabeta hated and was more than willing to destroy.  
“Yeah,” another girl added. This one Elizabeta didn’t know but had seen around school, which wasn’t hard given her bright red hair. “I don’t really know you, but I know how much you’ve helped out my friends and someone who does that deserves a little help, even if it’s only a magazine.”  
“This is really nice and all but...” she glanced down at the magazine. Some forgotten part of her mind cringed at the sight of the stunning model in an equally stunning white gown on the front. The other part was almost rejoicing. Almost. “I only got engaged on the weekend, I’m not going to be getting married for another year at the very least, maybe two.”  
The girls froze in shock and turned into each other to have a muttered conversation. Elizabeta was getting antsy now. She was in advanced maths and the other students were starting to pour in. If she wasn’t the lone Omega in a class filled with Alphas and Betas she wouldn’t mind, but that wasn’t the case. The annoyed looks that were also being sent her way were starting to get on her nerves as well. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity they stopped and turned their attention back to her.  
“I don’t know if you know this, but Lilly said that Roderich wanted to push the wedding forward until next month.” Francis’ cousin told her, unsure of how the elder Omega would react.  
Elizabeta just sat there stunned. She never heard of this. She wanted to graduate school and be in college or on her way to college before she tied the knot. Now, it looked like her plans were scuppered.  
Suddenly, a loud cough broke the tension that had permeated through the air and snapped the girl’s attention away.  
“Mädchen, class is going to start now so you better leave,” came a too familiar coarse voice through the silence. Elizabeta dared a glance up but was only met with Gilbert’s retreating back as he made his way to a table next to where the new American student sat, Alfred’s face grim as he purposely avoided her eyes.  
As quickly as the girls had appeared, they had vanished again in a hushed chorus of giggles and whispers.  
Elizabeta spent that class trying to forget what the girls had said. It was proving impossible and worse still; Gilbert and Alfred had seemingly taken over a class that she normally excelled at. What really infuriated her, though, was the fact that the class had automatically accepted them, something that took her months to do.  
Elizabeta could only glare at them as they left in a large, laughing group when the bell finally signaled the end of class.

_Later that day in her room_

Elizabeta was in the middle of another intense maths session when a knock on her door broke her from her concentration. Lifting her head to look towards the door, she called a simple “come in” then turned back to her work.  
“Lizzie, sweetie. Arthur’s here to see you,” her mother told her, an excited smile lit up the elder Omega’s face as she caught sight of the magazines that had somehow spilled from Elizabeta’s bag. “When did you get these?” she enquired as Arthur stepped past her and fell onto a beanbag near a tv in the far corner.  
“Uh...” Elizabeta froze. She could feel their eyes boring into the back of her neck, Arthur’s threatening to puncture her soul. “Some Omegas at school, they thought I might need them.”  
“That’s lovely of them,” Evike hummed happily before sending her daughter another smile and leaving the room calling out a “have fun” as she closed the door.  
“Long time no see, Art,” Elizabeta mumbled when she was sure the door was fully closed.  
“Quite,” Arthur answered curtly, his eyes now wandering the room. It had only been a few days since he was last here, but things had already started to change. Instead of a guitar in the corner, there was a board with an assortment of fabrics and colour combinations. Pictures of cakes and flowers adorned the cork board she had hung on her wall along with pictures of her childhood. Most notable of all the differences was a small black velvet box that sat on its own on her nightstand.  
Pushing himself off the ironically red beanbag, he meandered through the clumps of clothing and things she had scattered across the floor to pick up the one thing that changed everything. Without a second of hesitation, he popped it open.  
Elizabeta noticed his actions too late and could only stare on in horror as he took in the flawless diamond encrusted ruby ring.  
“I thought engaged Omegas had to wear their engagement rings,” he commented just loud enough for Elizabeta to hear.  
“I... it’s too big and has to be...” she tried to reason but was cut off.  
“Is that so? Such a shame really, but why don’t you try it on now? You know, so I can see how stunning this white gold is against your skin?” Arthur challenged and made his way over to her, his eyes glinting with something Elizabeta couldn’t place.  
“I kind of want to...”  
Arthur just stared at her. His eyes burning angrily as she held his glaze. Eventually and with a sigh, she grabbed the box from his hand and put the ring on, holding it out for Arthur to analyze as her eyes rooted themselves onto her desk.  
“Tsk. Honestly, he had to choose this ring?” Arthur snorted, refusing to mention the fact that the ring had fitted her perfectly. “I can see why you wouldn’t wear it, silver on your skin tone? He has to be bloody insane.”  
Elizabeta stared at him in complete shock. She was expecting something, anything else but not that.  
“Right, now that all that’s sorted, we have to go now,” he announced and took the ring from her finger to place it back into its box and drop it on her bed.  
“Wait, what? Aren’t you going to say anything else?” Elizabeta gasped.  
“Not unless there’s something you want to talk about,” Arthur told her, his eyebrow raised in confusion but the look in his eyes told her everything she needed to know. It told her that he knew how she felt and so much more than she was willing to admit.  
“Fine, but where are we going?” she asked as she stood to reach for her bag, stopping momentarily in their slow walk to the door to check for her purse.  
“The show. Don’t you remember we’ve been on about this for months now?”  
Elizabeta grimaced as their promise came back to her. The sudden engagement and plans for a wedding banished her other plans from her mind.  
“Of course I remember,” she said, her confidence returning after being a mere figment of her imagination for the majority of the day. “How could I forget?”  
“Good, I was starting to worry that Mister Priss had started to wear off on you.”  
“Don’t call him that,” Elizabeta shot back as they made their way out the front door.  
“I’ll call him whatever I please, it’s not like we’re chums, now is it?” Arthur replied coolly.  
Elizabeta could only tsk in annoyance. There really wasn’t anything she could do. Arthur and Roderich hadn’t been able to see eye to eye since the day Elizabeta found the Austrian Alpha playing piano. Things had only gotten worse in the past six months when she had started dating Roderich. Apparently, Arthur found him annoying and had repeatedly said that his “pompousness” was misplaced, while Roderich thought Arthur was too brash and unruly to be a member of royalty, let alone an Omega. There were days that Elizabeta honestly wondered why she put up with them until she remembered how much they had helped her in their own ways.

_o~o~o~o~o~o_

  
They sat the majority of the car ride in silence; only breaking it to make some small talk about the “show” they were going to. A few short minutes passed and they were piling into a crowded stadium. Throngs of people lined the boxing ring in the centre as they climbed stairs to their seats. Shoving their way past, they made their way to the front row where they found their seats. Elizabeta had to personally thank all the gods in existence for getting them such good tickets. By that, she meant Fianna. The Irish Omega always came through with amazing tickets when a good match was in town.  
It took them another few minutes to settle into their seats before they had finally relaxed and started a staggered conversation.  
“This match better be good,” Elizabeta said almost to herself.  
“It will be, after all, it’s the final and things are going to get exciting,” Arthur told her and quickly put his phone away after sending off what appeared to be a text.  
“If it isn’t, then you’re paying for the next match,” she challenged. “So, how did the date go? We haven’t talked since school and you didn’t even turn up today.”  
“Yes, I had a family thing to attend.” His eyes darkened as he spoke before he quickly changed the subject. “It was fine, I had to leave early but up until then... things weren’t too bad.”  
His head hung low as he considered how the night had actually gone. Unable to put anything into words.  
“Alfred?” she questioned suddenly, shocking even herself.  
“What about him?”  
“I... I mean he... he didn’t throw the date off did he?”  
“No, well... not entirely. Other things just happened and I don’t particularly want to talk about it.”  
Elizabeta let the subject die, concerned at how sullen the English teen had become.  
“Okay, so who do you want to win?” she asked, swiftly changing the subject.  
“Not sure. Possibly the Scottish fellow, he went to school with Alistair so it would make sense to support him,” Arthur answered after a moment’s hesitation.  
“Huh, thought you’d cheer for the Irish guy,” Elizabeta commented. “You always support someone who’ll piss off your brother,” she added with a cheeky grin hoping it would knock him out of whatever had suddenly come over him.  
“I thought it was time to change things up,” came his quick, possibly rehearsed, reply.  
Elizabeta didn’t have a chance to question when suddenly the crowd opened into a torrent of cheering and screaming. Jumping to her feet, she and Arthur instantly joined the crowd as the fighters took to the ring, ignoring the two who took the free spots to Arthur’s left.  
The first round was quick. A lightning fast punch from the boxer nicknamed “Squiggle” almost floored his competitor and a retaliating knock to the stomach brought the round to an end. This didn’t stop the crowd from erupting into more cheers. With the fighters prepping for the next round, the Omegas shared a competitive grin.  
“Squiggle wins this, you’re buying pizza and bee...” Elizabeta started telling him before her eyes landed on someone she really didn’t want to see.  
"What the hell are you doing here?!" She screamed at the albino Alpha who, as far as she was concerned, appeared from thin air. He didn't answer.  
Gilbert could only stare back at her in complete and utter shock as Alfred threw himself back into his chair, blissfully unaware of the two Omegas. That was until he turned to talk to Gilbert and instead of meeting the albino's eyes. He met Arthur's.  
"Dude, you're still into boxing?" he asked in sheer joy.  
"Wait, I mean, hold on a minute, what are you two doing here?" Gilbert interjected. Confusion written across his face.  
"Fianna?" Alfred asked the pair who could not stop staring at them. Arthur and Elizabeta nodded slowly and Alfred smiled in understanding. "Dude, Fianna dragged them and they got hooked, it's how I got into it when she used to drag me and Artie to these things. Man, those were good times. Umm, you okay, Artie?" The last part was directed to Arthur, the Alpha’s composure completely changing within a split second.  
Arthur only nodded slowly in reply. Their interaction going unnoticed by their friends.  
It was true, Elizabeta thought. She had been dragged to a fight not long after she had become friends with Arthur and from that moment on she couldn’t get enough. She had even tried out and succeeded in joining her school’s team. However that ground to a halt when her parents found out and forced her to quit. That didn’t stop her going to matches though.  
"Who the fuck is Fianna?" Gilbert asked.  
"She's my sister in law, remember? The girl with red hair? You were even invited to her bloody wedding!" Arthur snapped at him.  
A look of realization and recognition dawned across his face as the name finally matched a face. "Oh, that's awesome of her."  
"Right, well," Elizabeta started after finally regaining her composure, "why are you here and will you move away from this spot!?"  
"I should ask you the same questions," Gilbert countered.  
“Hey, we paid good money for these seats, there’s no way we’re moving.”  
“So did we,” Gilbert shot back.  
Meanwhile Arthur stared into thin air while Alfred could only look on.  
“Hey dude,” the American started and nudged a distracted Gilbert in the side. The German Alpha spun to look at his friend. “Do you mind swapping seats with Artie?”  
“Huh, why?” Gilbert asked loudly.  
“Look... uh,” Alfred stammered, desperate to find an excuse to make his friend swap places without making it seem too obvious that he needed to just check if Arthur was all right. “Dude... if you two swap places then you might be able to get back in Elizabeta’s good books.” The last part was hushed but loud enough for Gilbert to hear and reply with a mischievous grin and thumbs up.  
“The awesome me decided that we have to swap places,” Gilbert declared to Arthur and without even waiting for Arthur to agree or protest he grabbed the Omega and placed him on his old seat, quickly taking the now empty seat. “Your knight in shining armour has arrived.” He told Elizabeta with a smile he hoped wouldn’t make her hit him, again.  
With Arthur beside Alfred, they quickly fell into a staggered hushed conversation that stopped only when the next round began, but resumed once Alfred had a chance to say something.  
Gilbert and Elizabeta on the other hand were watching the match closely. Neither one cheering nor booing when a boxer landed a punch until Squiggle landed a punch that almost won the match.  
“That’s it!” Elizabeta shouted and launched herself forward to the barrier that stopped the front row going any closer to the ring.  
“About fucking time, Squiggle!” Gilbert roared and followed Elizabeta by launching himself at the barrier in less than a fraction of a second.  
They turned and stared at each other intently at the other’s action.  
“You’re supporting him?” they asked at the exact same time and their faces lit up as they realized they were both actually rooting for the same fighter.  
“About time someone has decent taste in boxers!” Gilbert declared happily.  
“I know, there’s no-one better at the minute!” Elizabeta agreed with a laugh. She tried to ignore her heart skipping a beat.  
“Ja! Like seriously, how unawesome do you have to be to support monobrow there?” He directed his comment to the pair of blond’s beside them, his eyes glinting in the ring lighting.  
“Yeah, there’s no way he’s going to beat Squiggle,” Elizabeta added and only just noticed how quiet Arthur had become and how downhearted he now looked. “Art, are you okay?”  
Arthur and Alfred’s attention snapped to them. Arthur’s face turned a fierce shade of scarlet when he realized that his friend had finally noticed a crack in his armour.  
“Yeah, he’s fine. We were just catching up,” Alfred answered for him and before he could argue anymore Alfred changed the subject. “We were talking about all the matches we went to and how every boxer we supported won.”  
“Ja, I’ll believe that when I see it,” Gilbert countered, quickly taking the bait that Alfred had laid down.  
“Wanna bet?” Alfred replied with a smirk and stepped slightly closer, over Arthur.  
“Loser buys beer and pizza,” Gilbert said with ease.  
Elizabeta had to ignore how her heart skipped another beat. They were just coincidences. That was all. Nothing she should concern herself about.  
Once again, their conversations where broken when the round and match came to a quick and dramatic close. The monobrowed competitor lay on the ground cradling his stomach, Squiggle standing with his arms raised in victory. Elizabeta and Gilbert immediately launched themselves into celebrations.  
“Look at that, losers!” Gilbert cheered as they jumped up and down.  
“He won! You guys have nothing on us!” Elizabeta added as she and Gilbert launched into a hug and spun around in delight.  
“We want that pizza and beer now!”  
Alfred and Arthur could only stare at the ring in shock. They had missed nearly the entire thing as they were too caught up in their admittedly important conversation. Reluctantly they nodded in agreement and led the way out, rushing back to force their friends to follow.  
Once outside, they were making their way to the cars when suddenly a black Jaguar pulled up beside them and out stepped Alistair.  
“Lad, ye need to come with us now,” he told the Omega who stood fixed in spot like a rabbit caught in headlights. The Scottish Alpha fixed Alfred with a firm glare. “Alfred,” he acknowledged curtly then pulled on Arthur’s arm, forcing the Omega into the car.  
Alfred could only nod his acknowledgement back and mutter a “bye” to Arthur as they vanished inside the car and raced off out of the carpark.  
“What was that about?” Gilbert asked after a few moments of silence passed.  
“Artie’s grandpa isn’t doing well,” Alfred answered hesitantly, rubbing the back of his neck in annoyance.  
“What, seriously?” Elizabeta gasped.  
“Yeah, he just... look I shouldn’t be talking about it because Artie doesn’t want anyone to know, okay?”  
“Ja... okay,” Gilbert replied and Elizabeta nodded in silent agreement. “So... Liz... need a ride home?”


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this took forever and I have to apologise for that. Hopefully the next updates will be faster but I'm in college so I can't make any guarantees.  
> Anyways, just thought I'd say that and thank you to everyone reading this :D  
> It still amazes me to see how much attention this fic got and hopefully you'll like this chapter too. Also a huge thank you to Lemons In My Life for being a wonderful Beta :D This thing would probably be a mess if it wasn't for her ^^

Elizabeta’s head was a mess. She had spent the entire day beforehand drowning in wedding preparations and the more she was forced to stand through countless hours of fittings, the more she despised the idea of getting married. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to get married; it was just the thought of getting married so soon left her feeling somewhat trapped. She wanted to take her time and spend months, maybe even a year or two preparing. Finding everything she wanted and making sure it was something that she wanted. Not this, this wedding was something she would never have imagined for herself.  
She wanted a sprawling outdoors venue that would be large enough to hold all her friends and family. She wanted to have all her favourite foods served and maybe even have a fireworks display. What she had been forced to settle with, however, was the opposite. There was no fireworks display, there wasn’t even a photo booth that would let her and her guests take fun pictures. Her favourite foods were limited to only one item. A single tiny starter. The rest was chosen by Roderich and while they weren’t bad, she just wouldn’t have chosen them. However, the only part that truly annoyed her was his resistance in allowing her say in the venue. Instead of her dream outdoor wedding with doves, butterflies and a starlit first dance, the venue was an old, rather luxurious mansion with renaissance paintings and large crystal chandeliers. The pinnacle of opulence.  
So yes, her head was a mess but she had to force herself past it as she stared down at her mountain of work. She still hadn’t caught up with her homework and considering her classes were due to start in less than ten minutes, she was starting to panic. That was until suddenly a pencil was prodded very painfully into her side.  
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she snapped up at the intruder. Her eyebrows furrowed into a scowl at the Alpha as their eyes met. “Can’t you see that I’m busy?”  
“Ja, I can,” Gilbert replied coolly. A feral grin starting to make its way onto his lips. He had this planned. They shared applied maths and could only count his blessings that it was their first class that day. “Shouldn’t you have done that yesterday?”  
Elizabeta just glared angrily up at him. She still wasn’t too happy about his presence in the school and having him lurking over her with his arrogant smile only made things worse.  
“What does it matter to you?” she shot back and threw herself back into her work. To her relief Gilbert just shrugged and walked away. To her complete despair, he arrived back less than a minute later and plopped himself into the free chair beside her. Slamming his bag on the desk and removing a single copy book.  
“Here,” he said flicking it open. “Take it down before the teacher comes in.”  
She didn’t get a chance to argue as Gilbert immediately turned and started talking to Alfred who coincidentally happened to be sitting right behind them. Informing the blond that he was going to be sitting there for the rest of the semester. Elizabeta only clenched her fist in annoyance, unwilling to believe that this was actually happening.  
“Liz...” Gilbert started, his attention now firmly back on her. “Seriously frau, if you don’t copy that right now you’re going to get in trouble.”  
She watched him for a moment, his eyes urging her to work, yet daring her to disagree. With a sigh she pulled the book towards her and started to work, hoping against hope that he made some mistake she could laugh at.  
By the time she had finished scribbling the notes, she was disappointed to note that not only was his work correct and his writing incredibly neat, but he had also worked every problem out so thoroughly it made her embarrassed to look at her own work.  
After that, class lasted too long. What started off as Gilbert answering a simple question, quickly turned into him taking over the entire class with Alfred pitching in to help. It was becoming more and more apparent that the two had long surpassed the level the rest of the students were at. To make matters worse was the small torn note the albino Alpha flung at her nose midway through the hour.  
Jolting out of her class induced daze; she glared down at the crumpled piece of paper before turning her attention to Gilbert who only smiled back at her innocently before dropping his eyes to the note. His jaw going slack in fake shock at the sight of it.  
“You should open it, could be important,” he whispered to her, edging in close so he would be heard.  
Scrunching her eyebrows, she grabbed it and pulled it open. Almost groaning at what was written.

_Pay attention Liz! Getting left behind and lost is not gonna help you stop being unawesome!_   
_From your awesome overlord Gilbert!_

She returned his smile with a stone cold glare. thoroughly annoyed at how easily Gilbert had picked up on the fact that she had drifted off and was now completely lost. Shrugging off her annoyance as much as she could, she straightened herself in a vague attempt to try and make the most of the remainder of the class. It didn’t work. Within minutes she was drifting off into her own private daydream as Gilbert and Alfred quickly became the teacher pets. It wasn’t until a sudden bell rang did she realize she had completely zoned out and had missed everything.  
“So...” Gilbert started smugly, “want my notes again?” He turned to her with his trademark grin and slid the book towards her, his confidence radiating off him in smug waves.  
“I’ll be fine,” Elizabeta replied instantly, not even daring to look down in case she lost her nerve then gave in and accepted his help. There was no way she was willing to do that. Ignoring how Gilbert was now opening the book once again and loudly pointing out all the work she had been daydreaming through, she shoved her stuff into her bag and pushed away from the table; the chair squeaking loudly on the floor.  
“Woah, Liz! Wait up!” he called after her and gathered his things before launching himself from his chair to chase her as she left. However he was too slow as she vanished into a murmuring crowd of Omegas, leaving him with no choice but to turn back and gather the rest of his things. “So much for being the knight in shining armour coming to her rescue…” he mumbled as he neatly put his books into his bag.  
Elizabeta, meanwhile, was making a beeline to the other side of the school. It was nearing ten thirty and all she wanted now was some form of escape from everything giving her more stress. With a final turn through the corridors, she found herself in a familiar hall lined with tall windows and various art pieces. The sound of an orchestra practicing in the background set her slightly at ease but nowhere near relaxed. Taking a deep breath, she marched down the hall until she came to the door the music emanated from. Pushing back her hair and pasting a smile to her face, she pushed it open and cringed a little once the music dipped. The piano player notably stopping for a few seconds longer before carrying on.  
She quickly took a seat with some Omegas perched on a long wooden stool at the far end of the room and then turned to watch the source of the music. Her eyes landing directly on her fiancé, Roderich. The next half hour passed in a daze as she let her mind wander so much so that she didn’t notice the room fall silent and the Omegas beside her disperse with giggles.  
“Elizabeta?” Roderich asked cautiously, almost scared to break her from her daze. “Are you okay?”  
“Huh?” Elizabeta woke with a start and stared up into violet eyes. “Oh, it’s just you Roddy,” she laughed hesitantly, ignoring the grimace he wore at the mention of the nickname.  
“Elizabeta, how many times must I remind you not to call me Roddy?” he chastised and lifted her bag as she stood up.  
“Sorry, I just had a stressful morning,” she explained quickly, “you played wonderfully, by the way.”  
Roderich smiled at the compliment and led the way out.  
“What happened?”  
“Just,” she hesitated, unsure if she should mention Gilbert, “maths. It’s a bit more challenging that I thought it was going to be and with the stress of the wedding...”  
“Then drop it,” Roderich quickly cut her off and was met with her shocked stare. “Listen to me, Elizabeta, I know how stressful this wedding is and wouldn’t it make much more sense to drop maths? That way you can focus on the smaller aspects of the wedding you have to plan and your Omega classes.”  
The reassuring smile that accompanied his words did nothing to ease her.  
“Look,” Roderich continued before she had a chance to answer, reaching for her hand as they walked. “I know you want to be a doctor, but, realistically, I don’t think that’s possible, given our plans. With my being accepted into the Austrian orchestral house and the travelling that will entail, it might be easier for you to train as a midwife. That way you can still follow your hopes of going into the medical profession.”  
“I don’t think I can do that,” she mumbled after a delayed pause, her gaze set firmly on the passing floor tiles.  
“Why not? I’ve seen how you help the younger Omegas and how much you’ve grown over the past few years. Any Omega would be thrilled to have you as their midwife,” he happily reassured her.  
“But I...” she tried to counter but was swiftly cut off once again.  
“Look, we’ll talk about this tomorrow,” Roderich said and suddenly pulled her to a stop. “But, for now, please stop doubting yourself. You’re a wonderful Omega and you need to be a role model for others. However, we have to focus on the wedding, so please don’t stress out about other things and focus on that. Oh, and try not to order things that are too expensive. We are still working on a budget.”  
With that, he quickly kissed her forehead, handed her bag back and disappeared around the corner with barely a ‘bye’, leaving Elizabeta alone to ponder his words. Yet, the longer she stood planted to her spot, the more the words stung. Swallowing harshly and forcing back the tears she didn’t realize had started to build, she pulled her phone from her bag and called Arthur. She tried desperately to ignore how her throat painfully threatened to close up with each passing word or how angry Arthur sounded. Rushing down the hall, she also failed to notice angry green eyes following her every move.


End file.
